Sausage in Cream Sauce with Pasta

Inspired by the new movie Julie and Julia I made a little cream sauce to put over ravioli. It was great and I am posting the recipe here now for your cooking and eating pleasure!

2/3 lb of good sausage (I used a slightly spicy creole sausage)
1 med onion (chopped up)
2 big portobello mushrooms (chopped up)
3/4 cup white wine
1 cup cream
6 cloves of garlic (I left them hole and ate them, but I love garlic, you may want to chop them)
1/4 cup of fresh grated Parmesan
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp white pepper
salt and black pepper to taste
Italian parsley to garnish

In a large skillet cook sausage. Remove and cut into pieces. Melt butter and olive oil together in skillet and saute mushrooms, garlic and onions. Add sausage back to skillet and season with peppers and salt. Add white wine and reduce to 1/2 volume. Add cream and cheese and simmer for an additional 2 minutes until sauce has thickened. Server over pasta, I used a cheese ravioli. I will add a pic soon.

Changes I am gong to try: I am going to sub out the Parmesan cheese for a local cheese, Cougar Gold, from the WSU creamery. I am also going to remove the garlic after it has sauteed and crush it and then add it back in.

Garden Failure

As you may or may not know, I tried to do the "Three Sisters" planting method this summer for corn, squash/pumpkins/gourds, and bean/peas. It didn't go so well. But I wanted to document some of my thoughts so that I can be more successful next year.

First, I should have started earlier. I started in late May and should start the corn the beginning of May. You can soak the corn seeds in warm water over night to start the germination process. The extra two weeks should really help get my corn going. I can cover the plants with a small plastic box at night to keep the temp up. Once the corn gets going I should plant the squash, pumpkins and gourds.

I need to keep on top of weeding. That seems to be the biggest detriment to the whole three sisters getting started. I plan on putting newspaper down between the mounds which should block out most of the weeds. With the newspaper in place I think I will have enough time to weed the mounds themselves by hand. Once all the plants are going, I will need to add compost to the top of the mound. The corn are heavy feeders and I don't think I gave them enough in the soil this year.

Next year will be better!

A couple of Sushi fillings

One of the biggest reasons I have this blog is to write down all the stuff I come up with when it comes to food. That way I won't forget it, and when people (like Morgan) ask me how I made something, I don't have to make it up on the fly, I can point them here:) So here are two sushi fillings. See my Sushi link to the right, for the low down on how to make and roll some great sushi.

Crab-Wasabi filling:
1/2 cup of crab meat
wasabi to taste
2 Tbsp of mayo

Mix together in a bowl and use directly for your sushi filling, or store in fridge for later. I think that I mixed in a little furikake seasoning with this as well, but I can't remember for sure.

Portobello filling:
2 portobello mushrooms (diced into small pieces)
1 can water chestnuts (diced into small pieces)
red chili pepper sauce (to taste)
2 cloves garlic (diced)
salt to taste

Saute in wok over high heat with a little olive oil until the chestnuts are soft, remove from heat and use directly for your sushi filling, or store in fridge for later.