When I married my Ambitious Feller, I knew one skill he would not be bringing to the marriage was the ability to cook. No, I understood from the beginning that I would not be one of those women whose husband was a kitchen whiz. He actually despises cooking, but really loves eating. Luckily for him, he married a woman that loves to cook. You know the old saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” I realized that quickly and worked my magic on him. It was a match made in Heaven!
Before I joined my husband on the mountaintop, he spent many weeks alone working on our land. I was concerned for him and his inability to cook a decent meal. The work was so rigorous, I knew he would need more than protein bars and shakes to live on during the week. On weekends when I would join him, I would often prepare sautéed vegetables with chicken thighs. Cooking outdoors required keeping dishes simple. After all, there was no official kitchen. At this point, we were utilizing a cooler for refrigeration.
On one particular weekend, I explained the process of sauteing the vegetables and cooking the chicken. I did my best to reassure him this was a simple stir-fry dish that even he could prepare. I gave him explicit instructions on how to recreate the dish once he was alone.
Well, he ended up putting his own unique touch to this dish and calling it “Appalachian Stir-Fry.” He was nervous about cooking chicken and was afraid he wouldn’t be able to tell if the chicken was fully cooked. He, however, felt confident in his ability to brown sausage! The recipe that follows was one he made many times with great success. I actually prefer his version of this stir-fry recipe the best. There’s just something about yummy, browned sausage with fresh sautéed vegetables. Not only does it taste great, but is a very pretty dish with the rainbow of vegetables.
“Appalachian Stir-Fry”
Ingredients:
- Vidalia onions
- Asparagus
- Purple or green cabbage
- Bell peppers (red, green, orange, yellow)
- Squash
- Zucchini
- 1 lb. Jimmy Dean Premium Pork hot sausage (or any type of sausage you prefer)
- McCormick Grill Mates Hamburger seasoning to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
- Chop vegetables to desired size. Feel free to go heavy on the vegetables.
- Heat 2 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
- Add chopped onions and saute for 3-4 minutes to caramelize.
- Add sausage to pan and crumble with a spatula. Cook sausage to about 3/4 done.
- Add remaining vegetables, seasoning and additional olive oil as needed.
- Cook until sausage is totally done and vegetables are just tender crisp, stirring frequently.
You can’t mess this dish up. You can add whatever vegetables you may like. Make sure to make enough for leftovers which are really good when warmed up in a cast iron skillet. If you just don’t like sausage, you could substitute ground beef. We have made it with a variety of other meats, but there is something special cooking this dish with sausage! It just tastes…The Best. It is a great one-skillet dish that is over the top with a slice or two of crusty cornbread.
