It seems that Frederic Chopin and your humble food blogger have something in common. We have each composed a Fantaisie-Impromptu! Frederic's version is played on the piano, while mine is achieved in the kitchen. It's an improvised "casserole" of crisp-tender cabbage, beautifully bronzed sausages, and pretty rounds of sweet potato.
Speaking from experience, Chopin's Fantasie isn't easy to play. It has a pesky 3-against-4 rhythm (eighth-note triplets in the bass must compete with quadruple 16th notes in the treble). The piece begins and ends with fire and brimstone. But the middle section is slow, melodic, and gushlingly-romantic. In 1917, Joseph McCarthy provided words for the slow melody, and called it "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows." In 1941, Judy Garland recorded this "new" song for the film Ziegfield Girl.
And that concludes our Music 101 lecture. Let's cook this colorful collection of sausage, cabbage, and sweet potato. The dish will stay fresh and wonderful in a 200°F oven for up to 1 hour before serving time:
To start, arrange 6 sweet Italian sausages on a rack in a well-loved roasting pan, and brush them with olive oil.
Roast at 425°F until the sausages are thoroughly cooked, and the casings are bronze and crisp -- 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, finely shred half of one large head of cabbage. Save the other half for a different recipe. Or, just shred the entire head if you want lots of green ribbons beneath your sausages. The decision is entirely yours.
Gently heat a glug of olive oil in large skillet, and then add the cabbage, and toss it with a big pinch of kosher salt and several grinds of black pepper.
If you'd like, you can add a teaspoon of fennel seeds to the cabbage. I suppose you could add a splash of vinegar, too, especially if you like the taste of sauerkraut.
And are you thinking what I'm thinking? You could probably substitute sauerkraut for the raw cabbage. Personally, I don't care for the stuff.
In any event, cover the skillet, and let the cabbage cook only until tender-crisp -- about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat, uncover the skillet, and set aside.
Now grab a large, well-scrubbed sweet potato (mine, above, weighed 1.28 lbs), and cut it into 1/4-inch-thick slices. As you can see, I did not peel the tuber.
Drop the orange rounds into a glass bowl, add 1/4 cup water, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Steam in the microwave oven until tender but not mushy -- 5-6 minutes on "High."
BUT KEVIN, MICROWAVE OVENS ARE AGAINST MY RELIGION!!! Sincerely, Gladys K.
Cool your jets, Gladys. You can steam the sweet potatoes in a steaming basket, or even roast or boil them. I'm just trying to make this recipe quick and easy for you.
Now tip the cabbage into a 9x13 baking/serving dish, and spread it out evenly. (My baking dish was purchased for $28.94 from this online source.)
Arrange the sausages on top of the cabbage bed...
And say hello to your food-savvy beagle. Arrange the sweet potato rounds in an overlapping fashion along the perimeter of the baking dish, and dust them, if you wish, with some freshly-ground black pepper.
If dinner will be delayed, just pop the works into a 200°F oven. Uncovered, the ingredients will retain their gorgeous color, texture, and perfume for up to 1 hour.
Just before serving, garnish the dish with a few sprigs of parsley.
Silver Fox loved this simple supper more than you can possibly imagine. I think you and your family will love it, too. Serve it with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon for a complete, balanced meal.
Here's the printable:
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:34]
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