Kielbasa with Pasilla Peppers and Onions

I love kielbasa and this is a great way to enjoy it! The sweet from the onions with a little heat from the pasilla peppers combined with the smokey flavor of the kielbasa create wonderful flavors in this quick and easy dish. Perfect for a quick, week-night dinner. Yum!

Ingredients

• 1-pound beef kielbasa sausage
• 1 yellow onion (not sweet)
• 2 pasilla peppers
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 350ºF.
2. Cut the tops (stem) off the pasilla peppers, slice lengthwise. Remove any seeds. Slice across into about 1/4" strips.
3. Remove skin from onion and slice in half from head to end. Slice onion into 1/4" strips starting at one end of the onion and working down towards the other.
4. Place peppers, onions, and olive oil into a gallon ziplock bag. Seal the bag and combine by working the bag in your hands until it is all mixed together.
5. Slice the kielbasa on the bias into 1/4" thick rounds.
6. Tear off two two-foot squares of long heavy duty aluminum foil.
7. Dump the peppers and onions into the center of one of the sheets of foil. Spread out leaving at least two inches of foil around the mixture.
8. Sprinkle the caraway seeds on top of the mixture and add salt and pepper.
9. Arrange the sausage on top of the mixture such that each piece is separate. This is to facilitate browning from the broiler later.
10. Take the other piece of foil, place on top of the mixture aligning the sides, and the fold the ends of the foil inwards to create a sealed packet. Pierce the packet a couple of times to allow some steam to escape.
11. Place the foil packet on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350ºF.
12. Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Using a knife, cut a cross in the top of the foil packet and peel back the sides to expose all the sausage. Be careful as mixture is hot!
13. Turn the oven on to broil and place the baking sheet on the top rack of the oven about two inches from the broiler.
14. Broil for about five minutes or until the sausage is browned.
15. Remove from the oven and serve!

Serves 4

Step 4: Mix peppers, onions, and olive oil.

Step 7 & 8: Peppers and onions in center of foil with caraway seed.

Step 9: Sausage arranged.

Step 11: Ready for the oven!

Step 12: Sausage ready for the broiler.

Step 14: Sausage broiled to perfection!

The Filibuster: Cocktail Elegance!

This is my new favorite Holiday cocktail! Elegant, smooth, and festive. Called the Filibuster, this maple-sweetened rye cocktail was created by Erik Adkins of Heaven's Dog and the Slanted Door in San Francisco, and appears in Left Coast Libations, which is an excellent collection of cocktail recipes from West coast bartenders. If you tend to like cocktails from the family of Sours, this one will be right up your alley. Not too sweet, not to sour, naughty but nice! Yum!

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 ounces rye whiskey (e.g. Old Overholt)
• 3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon
• 1/2 ounce maple syrup
• 1 very fresh egg white
• Angostura bitters

Method

1. Add rye, lemon, maple syrup, and egg white to a cocktail shaker. 
2. Dry shake (without ice) for 20 seconds to emulsify egg. 
3. Add ice and shake hard for 10 seconds, until chilled. 
4. Strain into coupe, garnish with Angostura bitters, serve immediately.