Great lunch: chard and sausage over polenta

No one part of this meal was new to me, but the total came together fantastically.  I had one leftover cooked italian sausage, sliced thin, mixed into pan-wilted greens to crisp as the greens cook, served over polenta (minus the parmesan because I need to go cheese shopping, plus a little extra olive oil and Hungarian hot paprika (I’m American, I can get away with paprika in polenta!)), with a drizzle of excellent balsamic vinegar on top.  Healthy, beautiful to look at, and delicious.

Calorie Estimate: 700

That’s all, no prep stuff.  The recipes are in the links.  I just wanted to record the whole package before I forget it.

Sausage and greens

From the Molto Mario Contadino episode.  Serve along side bruschetta or something like that.

Calories: 2-300 per sausage

Ingredients

• sausage
• greens
• a little onion or leeks
• 1 clove garlic
• splash of white wine
• splash of olive oil

Preparation

1. Cook sausage on stove top in skillet (line around the edge of the skillet), with a little extra olive oil.  Poke the sausages before cooking to let some of the fat drain out (normally taboo, but you’ll see where we’re going).
2. After the sausages have released a good amount of fat, drop a couple cloves of minced garlic in the middle.  Add greens (broccoli rabe, leeks, cabbage, etc) and toss. Add stalky greens a little earlier than any leafy ones. Greens will give up moisture.  Move then around to pick up brown bits from the pan.  Salt to taste.
3. When sausages and greens are done, remove to a plate.  To the skillet, add a splash of dry white wine, lemon juice, and maybe a splash more of olive oil.  Stir out the browned bits and drizzle over the greens.

Wilted greens with balsamic eggs

Taken from Chow.com.  This is a very fast, healthy dish that can make a good breakfast or light dinner.  The richness of loosely cooked eggs goes nicely with the greens, and balsamic vinegar is always tasty.  Serve with a bit of crusty bread, either as a base to the eggs or just to mop up the plate.

Calorie Estimate: 500 (w/o bread)

Ingredients

• 2 T olive oil (or 1 T olive oil and 1 T butter)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 garlic glove minced
• onion, little bit, diced, (or some green onion)
• 6-8 ounces of greens (swiss chard, spinach, arugula, dandelion, etc)
• 3 large eggs
• balsamic vinegar (2T cheap stuff, drizzle of good stuff)

Preparation

1. Remove any large or tough stems from the greens. Slice greens into 1/2 inch ribbons.
2. Over medium heat, warm 1 T olive oil in a skillet until it shimmers. Add onion and garlic, cook for about 30 seconds.
3. Add greens to skillet, season with a little salt and pepper.   Fold them around to coat with the oil.  Cook for about a minute until they wilt.  Remove the greens from the skillet and plate them.
4. Wipe out skillet.  Return it to the heat and add 1 T of oil (or butter).  Fry eggs sunnyside-up until the edges brown, the pan gets pretty dry, and the edges pull away from the pan, about 5 minutes.
5. If you’re using cheap balsamic, add 2 T to the eggs in the pan with about 2 minutes left on the cooking time.  Reduce and pour the remainder over the finished eggs.  If using the good stuff, just drizzle some on the eggs when they’re done.