Day 13: Meat n' Taters!

Several years ago, I stood in the kitchen wondering what the hell to make for dinner since I had only sausage and potatoes to work with. The result became a Once A Month (or more, depending) staple meal in our house.

Meat n' Taters

This meal is about the easiest thing to make. It's hearty, stick-to-your-ribs food that goes from pantry to skillet to dish in about 30 minutes.

Ingredient Roundup:
* Sausage (I use the Beef Polska Kielbasa, but you can use any sausage you like. I've done chicken sausages, elk sausages, pork sausage... really.)
* 2-3 Medium Yukon Gold potatoes (I've tried using Russet for this and it didn't quite taste the same. The potato needs to be waxy; even red potatoes work.)

The can o' corn is there as the side dish. You can add it TO the skillet if you prefer, but we usually just zap it with some butter to make things easy.

Slice the sausage into bite-sized pieces. This, again, is all personal preference as to how thin you want to go. Sometimes we go chunky, sometimes less-so. I happen to really like when the sausage gets all fried and crispy around the edges... so... your mileage may vary.

In a non-stick skillet, toss all the sausage and turn the range on to, oh, medium high or so.

A note: I don't add any oil to my pan for this dish, or butter, or anything. The sausage has enough fat in it that it renders down beautifully, you just have to make sure you keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

While that's heating up, wash and chop the potatoes. Again, personal preference prevails here as to chunk size, but I normally do somewhere around 1/2" or so.

You can leave the skin on for this if you scrub it (and really, you ought, because that's where all the nutrients are, right?) before you chop and then just toss 'em right in the pan on top of those sausage slices.

Right here, once it's all stirred up in the pan, I normally hit it with some dried dill. There's something about it that just brightens the whole dish and gives it a really luscious flavor. But, alas, I was out of dill, so I added some cajun spices to the mix, just for a little kick of seasoning. Due to the salt content of the sausage, I generally avoid adding more, but hey, whatever you like, right? Tailor the recipe.

Pop on the cover and let it cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring every once in a while to keep the sausage from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

When it's done, just add your favorite veggie (or whatever you have on hand) and you're good to go! You can tell it's ready when the potatoes are fork tender and the sausage has that lovely caramelized crust thing going on around the edges.

Enjoy!

~Snarkstress