Fat Tuesday

Luckily, the first meal we decided to document took place on Fat Tuesday so moderation was not an issue and it also happened to be the day Lainie brought home some lovely mini wedding cakes for taste testing.

Although not traditional Mardi Gras fare, we had three sausages from last month's CSA, and decided to eat those up since we had just gotten this month's share. Sausage grinders with peppers and onions it is! This is how we did it:

• Add water (1/2 cup?) to pan with sausages and let it ride until water evaporates
• After water has evaporated, allow sausages to brown on all sides
• Add sliced green peppers, sliced onions and minced garlic on top of sausages, like this:

See how easy? Just let everything cook together until it looks like this:

We bought a lovely Iggy's baguette instead of regular rolls and just cut off the ends and then into thirds. This bread will surely lead to bahn mi's.

Also on the menu were impeccably roasted potatoes (good job Elaine!) and roasted shrimp cocktail for appetizer. This is so simple and improves shrimp 100 fold, in my opinion. Simply put uncooked shrimp on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in a 375 degree oven for no more than 8 minutes. The shrimp are tender and flavorful. We made a simple cocktail sauce with what was on hand: ketchup, horseradish and Texas Pete's Hot Sauce.

Totally delicious.