verbatim: Two Easy Winter Recipes

I continue to find lots of great recipes over at Budget Bytes and urge you to poke around there—I haven't had a miss yet!

Here are two recipes that have been in frequent rotation around here. The first I did exactly as written; the second was more of an idea for a technique rather than a recipe that you need to follow exactly. Both use sausage; if you think you don't like sausage, just remember that there are a million different varieties, and they're all really just ground meat with seasonings! I for one don't love the flavor of fennel seed, so a typical sweet Italian pork sausage is not my jam. But I do love, for instance, Whole Foods' chicken sausage with herbs and garlic. For the second recipe below, you can use any type of sausage you like.

Cajun Sausage and Rice Skillet

This is really delicious! The only thing that makes it "Cajun" is the use of andouille, so if that's not your thing, you could use any other smoked sausage you like. I use Niman Ranch andouille, which is just spicy enough for me. The smoked paprika adds plenty of heat anyhow. There are also chicken andouille sausages out there, which might be worth a try.

1 tablespoons neutral cooking oil
14 ounces Andouille sausage, cut into ¼- to ½-inch slices (Niman Ranch comes in a 12-ounce package, which was plenty to feed 2 with leftovers.)
1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (I left this out and doubled up on the black pepper.)
⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen crushed tomatoes.)
1 cup long-grain white rice
1½ cups chicken broth
2 scallions, sliced

Heat the oil in a deep skillet (with a lid) or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage and sauté until well browned. Add the bell pepper and sauté for about 1 minute. Add all the spices and sauté for 1 minute.

Add the fire-roasted diced tomatoes with their juices, rice, and chicken broth. Stir to combine and dissolve any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.

Cover the pan, turn up the heat to medium-high, and allow the broth to come to a full boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let it rest, still covered, for 5 minutes.

Stir gently to redistribute the rice and sausage throughout. Top with the scallions and serve.

Oven-Roasted Sausage and Root Vegetable Medley

This is one I've done quite a few times, and it couldn't be easier. Mix and match your favorite sausages, root vegetables, and seasonings, and scale up or down depending on how many you're feeding. For this recipe you need fresh sausage so that it will cook in the same amount of time as the veggies. I served this with rice.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Peel and cut your favorite root vegetables into 1-inch pieces. I usually use some combination of carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, and golden beets. Last night I happened to have a red beet on hand, so I added that too (literally "on hand" once I got done peeling and chopping it!). Oh, and red onion, if I remember, cut into thin wedges. The original recipe calls for sweet potato (and apple), which I don't love, but you could also do that or regular potatoes or turnips or anything else you can think of.

Put your fresh sausages on a rimmed baking sheet and scatter the veggies around them. You don't want to crowd the veggies or else they'll steam, so use two baking sheets if you've got a lot.

Drizzle everything with plenty of olive oil and then season as you wish—I use lots of salt, pepper, and Italian herb seasoning blend. Toss to coat, then spread everything out again.

Roast for 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the sausages to a cutting board. Cut the sausages into ½-inch-or-so slices, then return them to the baking sheet. Give everything a good toss.

Roast for another 20 minutes (or a little longer, if needed), turning and tossing once or twice to brown everything beautifully, and serve.