Roasted sausage and cauliflower

I used half hot Italian sausage and hot paprika for a dish with bite.  Tonight I ate it plain with a spoon.  I think tomorrow the leftovers are going to be tossed with some cooked pasta and a little tomato sauce.

3/4 ~ 1 lb Italian sausage (mild, hot, or a mix of the two)
1 head of cauliflower
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 t. paprika (sweet or half-sharp)
1 1/2 t. Italian Seasoning blend

Preheat oven to 400F.  Line a half sheet pan (13 inches x 18 inches) with aluminum foil.

Remove the sausage from the casings, and cook in a skillet over medium heat just long enough to break it up into crumbles. Do not let it brown -- in fact, it's best if you pull it off the heat while there are still a few pink spots.

Trim the leaves and core from the cauliflower, and cut into pieces that would make two bites when raw.  It will shrink a lot in the oven.  Rinse under cold water.

Combine the crumbled sausage and damp cauliflower in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with paprika, Italian seasoning and olive oil.  Toss until the cauliflower is light pink.  Spread on the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.  Continue baking until you see dark brown edges on the cauliflower, 10 -20 minutes longer.

Rotiserie Chicken Chowder

There are only two of us, so we get several meals out of a jumbo rotisserie chicken.

When I removed the meat from carcass, I tossed the bones into a 2.5 quart sauce pan with an onion, two stalks of celery, 2 carrots, and some peppercorns and rosemary in a tea ball.  I simmered it until bedtime (about 2 hours), salted it to taste, and strained out the solids.  (I saved the bones in the refrigerator since there was still some meat to be picked off.)  I used the resulting stock for this chowder.

2 T butter (or fat from the top of the chicken stock)

1 small onion, chopped

3 small carrots, chopped

3 stalks of celery, sliced

1 ~ 2 cloves of garlic, grated on a microplane

1 large baking potato (~ 8 oz), peeled and diced

2 t Penzey's Fox Point Seasoning

4-6 c. stock, from a carton if you didn't get a chance to boil the carcass

1 1/2 ~ 2 c. of chopped chicken

Freshly ground black pepper

11 oz. can of corn, drained

1/2 ~ 1 c. instant mashed potato flakes

5 oz. can evaporated milk

Heat the butter or chicken fat in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onion and cook until translucent.  Add carrots, colery and garlic.  Cook stirring occasionally while you peel and dice the potato.  Add the potato to the pot, sprinkle the Fox Point over, and season generously with black pepper.  Stir in the seasonings, and add the stock and chicken.  Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender.  Stir in the drained corn and 1/2 c. of mashed potato flakes and the evaporated milk.   Add more potato flakes if you would like a thicker chowder.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The instant potatoes will make the leftovers thicken up in the refrigerator.  Add a little water, stock or milk before reheating.