We wanted something special to celebrate the holiday and I thought firing up the grill would be a good idea. Walking through Wegmans we came across their spicy chicken sausage with garlic and herbs. This comes in a long rope with skewers to hold it in a coil and I thought it would be fun to grill it in one piece. So we picked up one of these, some mini sweet peppers (yellow, red, and orange), and some Vidalia onions. We had some buns left over from a previous meal and the plan was to have a regular 4th of July grill out.
Unfortunately, my cold is still preventing me from having a lot of fun outside in the heat so we decided to cook the dinner in the air-conditioned kitchen. I first browned the sausage on both sides and then pulled it out of the pan. I then put an onion and the sliced peppers with some garlic in the pan and sautéed them real slow to get a good caramelization (see I did learn something from the chef in St Martin ). After the onions and peppers were ready, I sliced the sausage into 1 inch pieces and added it back to the pan with a splash of red wine and turned the heat way down.
While I was busy with the sausage, Sally was making one of our favorite side dishes; a Santa Fe Quinoa Salad from Food & Wine magazine. This is a mixture of quinoa, cocktail onions, black beans, cilantro, and roasted red peppers that we find really enjoyable and surprisingly healthy. It actually takes some time to make but it is not really difficult and is a light accompaniment to most any meal.
While in Wegmans we also picked up a bottle of a Spanish Red wine to go with the meal. The 2006 Corte Mayor Rioja is Crianza wine made from Tempranillo grapes. It is a full bodied wine with plenty of fruit and soft tannins that complemented the dinner and also went well with the chocolate afterwards.
O-well back to work tomorrow L
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