Recipe ideas

[Jester]

And this one will be challenging!

I've been cooking a lot at home lately, and while it's generally delicious, I tend to make the same things (ease of making, time of making, cost of ingredients, etc., etc.). One thing I often make myself is a skillet-cookies mishmash of kielbasa, onions, peppers, sauerkraut, mustard, beer, and spices. It's great, but posting about it one day on Facebook prompted a friend to point out that I've never had REAL kielbasa. Which, if she meant not bought from the store in a package, she was right. So, she kindly got me some homemade kielbasa. Which is delicious. Somehow meatier and earthier than the storebought stuff, and doesn't leave me feeling as antsy and jittery, as I often do after eating plenty of the storebought stuff. (A similar feeling to when I have a lot of deepfried food. Anyone know what the hell that is?)

Anyway, last night I made the usual meal with the homemade stuff, and it was delicious! But now I'd like to try something new. Anyone have any suggestions for kielbasa based dishes?

That is not challenging, I know, though I welcome all such recipes. The challenging part is this: I have a good variety of fantastic honeys, that I don't use nearly often enough. I've searched online, and found no recipes that really use kielbasa and honey together. So, for major bonus points, anyone got any recipes, ideas, suggestions, or brainstorms for recipes that use BOTH of these ingredients?

[Seraph]

Kielbasa, chicken breast chunks, and red potato chunks, cooked in a covered skillet with olive oil and rosemary.

Holy cowwwww, ITS TASTY.

[Jester]

Do you cook them altogether, or do you start the potatoes earlier?

[Seraph]

I actually just started it all at the same time. Small enough (Like, about 2-3"), and it all works out pretty well.

[EricKei]

re: Honey -- I checked a few recipe sites -- they all seem to come up with either "kielbasa with honey mustard" or "marinated and/or cooked in a blend of oil/honey/spices/whatever". Not sure if that's quite what you're looking for. Were you thinking more of something that had the honey in center stage?

(A similar feeling to when I have a lot of deepfried food. Anyone know what the hell that is?)

Is it possible that you are having a reaction to the extra salt, preservatives, nitrites, etc that are commonly in prepackaged sausage and vaguely sausage-esque meats (such as hot dogs)? If it only happens with fried sausages or deepfried foods (deepfried often has a TON of salt, and is also often made with cheap oil that tolerates high temperatures for long periods), maybe it has something to do with the specific oils used?

Easy enough to test -- cook the same kind of sausage in different oils, a few days apart for each one -- if one makes you feel jittery and the other does not, you've got at least a clue to the culprit. If all make you jittery, test the same oils with your friend's homemade sausage, different brands, a grocery's in-house sausage, etc. If nothing else works -- or even if you do find the culprit and need help avoiding it -- maybe ask yer doc to see if there's a food allergy test he can arrange for, the next time you go in for a checkup...?

[Ghel]

Another variation of kielbasa and kraut. Simply brown the kielbasa in a frying pan, add pre-packaged sauerkraut and cut-up potatoes of your choice. Cook until the potatoes are soft. Serve with brown mustard. I love the flavor that the sauerkraut adds to the potatoes in this.

[Jester]

As I don't use oil, and the recipe was the same, the only difference was the sausage used, in this case storebought kielbasa vs. homemade kielbasa. Even if I did use oil, as I use oil all the time, and don't generally have an adverse reaction to it, I wouldn't think twice about it being the oil.

[Jester]

Spetzel? Elaborate, please...

[Trixie]

I'm not completely sure and I'm no where near anything of a good cook but I think spetzel is some sort of dumpling type thing. I'm sure someone here much wiser than me will have more and correct information.

[MoonCat]

Spaetzle. Sort of a noodle-dumpling hybrid.

[EricKei]

Ask and ye shall receive: Spaetzle

[Barracuda]

My favorite dishes to make with kielbasa would have to be my homemade fried taters and onions. Pretty easy to make:

About 3 large russet potatoes, skinned and cut into rounds along the potato
1-2 tbsp of fresh minced garlic (depending on taste)
Butter or olive oil
1/2 to 1 white onion, sliced in half from top down then laid flat and sliced from root end to bottom
Kielbasa, sliced
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Rosemary (Ground is best for the thyme and rosemary)
Thyme
Dill
Fry the onion and garlic and kielbasa until browned and golden, adding some salt and pepper and herbs while cooking in large frying pan or wok. Add potatoes and more herbs, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly to coat potatoes in other ingredients. Add about 1 full glassful of water. This should be enough to cover the ingredients, you may need to rearrange and add a little more water. Potatoes should be barely submerged or just barely sticking up. Cover and simmer over low-medium heat until potatoes are soft and cooked through and almost all the water is absorbed. Mix together thoroughly, mashing up the potatoes as you go into a creamy texture (some lumps are not a big deal.) If you desire, you may add a little more butter or oil and fry the potatoes a bit more until crispy, or serve immediately. Result is a thick casserole, almost like a stew, that has completely absorbed the flavors of all the ingredients while cooking.

Other ideas--Sliced kielbasa in homemade mac and cheese. Sliced kielbasa in soup--Potato and leek soup is a good choice, as is a corn chowder or perhaps a sausage chowder (make as you would a clam chowder, but instead of clams, add the kielbasa.) You can also try glazing it with honey and smoking it or slow roasting it, or using the honey to make a BBQ sauce and glazing it with THAT or making a sauce to cook it in with your favorite veggies, sort of like sweet and sour (maybe add some grilled pineapple?)

[Jester]

Love the recipe, and already pondering ways to tweak it.

About 3 large russet potatoes, skinned and cut into rounds along the potato
1-2 tbsp of fresh minced garlic (depending on taste)

Thinking of using fingerling potatoes. Don't know why. Perhaps red baby potatoes, but I use them all th time. And as my original post suggested, I want to try new stuff.

Of course, with the garlic, I'll probably lean towards the heavier side. Some things are just not going to be new.

Add about 1 full glassful of water. This should be enough to cover the ingredients, you may need to rearrange and add a little more water.

This just screams out for substituting beer for water. So many possibilities here.

Result is a thick casserole, almost like a stew, that has completely absorbed the flavors of all the ingredients while cooking.

Thus my idea for beer.....

Sliced kielbasa in homemade mac and cheese.

Brilliant! I had some mac and chorizo up in Lauderdale last month, and it was awesome. Kielbasa sounds like a great idea as well. Of course, now I'll have to make my very first mac and cheese (at least, my first that doesn't come out of a box).

You can also try glazing it with honey and smoking it or slow roasting it, or using the honey to make a BBQ sauce and glazing it with THAT or making a sauce to cook it in with your favorite veggies, sort of like sweet and sour (maybe add some grilled pineapple?)

Oh, this is BRILLIANT! Almost definitely doing this with the remainder of the homemade kielbasa. Need a side dish, but this almost cries out for sweet potatoes, or some other classic barbecue side. Oh, wait.....my homemade potato salad. Hmmmm.....go with something I know will rock with the potato salad, or try something new. Decisions, decisions.

[MaggieTheCat]

Spaetzle is sort of a cross between a noodle and a dumpling. It's often served with schnitzel but I'm sure it would be equally delicious with kielbasa. You can buy dried spaetzle at the grocery store and cook it just like any dried pasta...but it's super easy to make at home, too.

Here is a cheap spaetzle maker: http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-3128-Sp.../dp/B00004UE89

There are lots of recipes floating around the internet, and one comes with that spaetzle maker (which is the recipe I've used.) They're all basically the same though, flour, eggs, milk, and some seasoning or flavoring (salt, herbs, spices, whatever.) Here is a recipe + instructions, including alternate methods of forming the spaetzle if you don't have the above-mentioned spaetzle maker: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/03/spaetzle/

The dough is a little...messy. It's very soft and sticky but once you get it into a pot of boiling water, it cooks up very nicely. After being boiled, toss it in a hot pan with some butter (or...kielbasa drippings?) and let it brown slightly. Delicious. You can also use it like pasta to make macaroni and cheese (I've never done this but seen recipes for it and the cooked spaetzle is plenty pasta-like that I'm sure it'd work in any basic mac 'n cheese recipe.)

[Barracuda]

Glad you liked my suggestions. :-) Let me know how any tweaking goes, but I may make one suggestion? You were thinking of changing the potatoes--Yukon Golds would pair well with the beer, as they are sweeter than normal brown potatoes, but not anywhere near as sweet as yams or true "sweet potatoes". They also might make the side you were talking about--make some Yukon Gold potato salad, maybe add a little sugar to the recipe (it's actually quite good, I do it with my potato salad) and have a mix of the two ideas--potato salad and sweet potatoes. Or, use a fruit salad drizzled with honey, or maybe, if you go with the BBQ sauce idea, make extra sauce and cook some baked beans in it?

By the way, I didn't realize you had never made homemade mac and cheese. It's the bomb. I do have a recipe, if you're interested.

6 cups dry macaroni
3 cups milk (2% or half and half)
6 tbsp flour
6 tbsp butter
3-4 cups cheddar or cheese of choice, either cubed or shredded
Hot dogs, sliced (smoked sausage, cubed ham, chopped bacon, kielbasa, etc., can also be used. For unique flavor, use crumbled smoked salmon and a white, medium firm cheese such as gouda or sharp cheddar.)
Celery salt
Pepper
Dill

In a large pot, boil macaroni according to package instructions. Make sure you add a few drops of oil (canola is fine) before boil starts to keep pasta from sticking together. When macaroni is cooked, remove from water, rinse with hot water in colander, and set aside. Melt butter in pan and add flour. Stir together into paste and add milk, stirring constantly until mixture thickens into sauce. Add cheese, hot dogs, and seasonings to taste (Celery salt enhances the cheese flavor, but you don't need a ton of it.) In large microwave safe bowl, mix macaroni and cheese sauce. Microwave for 2-3 minutes (this will dry out the sauce somewhat and cause it to cling to the pasta better.) Serve.