Chicken Sausage & Peach Tacos

Sometimes one has to stray away from the normal taco.  Sometimes, you just have to be daring.  Sometimes you just have to challenge the pairings of the Flavor Bible and come up with your own (after all - those pairings didn't just show up out of no where - there had to be a first attempt somewhere!).

What was originally a salad, but due to lack of enough lettuce (I know, lame right?), and over abundance of tortillas - soon became one of the most unique tacos I've ever come to know.  And whether it be fate or just pure luck... these things were delicious.


Ingredients:

2 chicken sausages (ours were a sun-dried tomato & basil blend)
shredded lettuce
2 peaches, quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
warm tortillas

In a small skillet, melt the butter under medium high heat.  Add peaches and top with brown sugar.  Cook until peaches are soft and slightly carmelized, "shaking" the pan every so often in order to mix the butter and brown sugar to provide a delicious coating for the peaches.

Ideally, I wanted to grill the sausages, but Mother Nature wasn't havin' it and decided to literally rain on my parade.  So just fry up the whole sausages in a skillet under high heat instead.  Heat until cooked throughout then let rest on a cutting board for about 2-3 minutes, then slice.

Assemble your tacos by placing a layer of lettuce in the middle of a tortilla.  Then top with a few slices of peaches and finally top with a few slices of sausage.  Fold and enjoy!

There was sweet.  There was savory.  And it was all purely delicious!  I can now mark chicken sausage and peaches as a match made in heaven for my Flavor Bible notes - so I dare ya to give it a go and tell me what you think!

And don't forget, I do a CSA round-up every Thursday afternoon - there's still time to submit your CSA/Farmer's Market/Garden pictures!  Just e-mail me at mtlabor85@yahoo.com and I'll put them in the post tomorrow!  See you guys tomorrow.

Baked Salmon w/ Pesto Puff Pastry & Corn

Remember that Lowell EGO light that I said I was getting?  Well... it came in the mail this past weekend and my verdict???  I.  Absolutely.  Love.  It.  LOVE IT. 

This salmon dish was just a quick Saturday night meal that was ready in about 30 minutes, just using what I basically had on hand!  I just love how the light gave such vibrance to the photos!  I hardly had to do any editing (besides some basic cropping/sharpening/noise reduction).  So hopefully over the next couple of months I can work more on the "styling" part of my photos.  Any tips?  Suggestions?  Any would help!

So if you're looking for something quick and tasty, this salmon dish is definitely for you!




Ingredients:

2 6 oz. salmon fillets
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less if you like it less spicy)
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil, for rubbing
1 & 1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup pesto
2 rectangles of puff pastry (cut a little bigger than the salmon fillets)

Preheat oven to 400 F. 

Rub salmon fillets with olive oil and season both sides with cayenne pepper, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Place puff pastry pieces on a greased baking sheet and bake according to package directions, or until golden brown.

Place salmon skin-side down in an oven-proof skillet and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until salmon is cooked through.

(My salmon and puff pastry were pretty much done at about the same time, so it worked perfectly)

Cook frozen corn in microwave according to package directions.

Spread a good amount of the pesto on top of the puff pastry and top with salmon and corn. 

Seriously.  I could not have had better ingredients to work with.  So colorful, so flavorful.  SO PERFECT. 

I asked Andy what he thought of the addition of the puff pastry (whether it was really necessary or added anything to the dish) and he said he actually enjoyed it's contrast with the delicate salmon.  So major score!  I loved this dinner and plan on making it many many times over!  Enjoy guys!