Haluski with Smoked Pork or Veggie Sausage

Haluski - or haluska if you prefer - made the rounds a couple months ago on the vegan blogs.  At the time I was too sick to care much about food.  The weather was also still routinely giving us those Florida summer days (98F with 97% humidity at seven p.m.) which didn't exactly make you yearn for a big, steaming bowl of noodles and cabbage.  Still, I thought it looked pretty good, even in my steamed and nauseated state.  So I tried my hand at my own version about a week ago, after my morning sickness and the temperatures had both subsided a bit.



Our haluski derives from this recipe, which just screams "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" to me for some reason.  Probably the Polish sausage.  Anyway, you can rest assured that this is an Americanized, completely inauthentic recipe.  Most of the true-believer haluski recipes are meatless, and they call for pounds of butter and homemade potato dumplings.  At the very least they require hand-rolled egg noodles.  I'm sure that there are hundreds of moms much more motivated than I will ever be, but this wasn't going to happen on a Thursday night.  Just the idea of washing two cast-iron skillets and a pasta pot was enough for me.

So, lazy haluski it was.  And it was good.  This dish can go back to its original meatless form very easily, or you can make it heartier with vegetarian or smoked pork sausage (as myself and Red did respectively).  Ours had cabbage, onions, bell peppers, and shredded carrot, but I bet it would take as many veggies as you'd like to add.  If you're not worried about authenticity, the world is yours.  And seriously, who's worried about authenticity on a week night?  What you should worry about is making a quick cucumber tomato salad and enjoying your dinner with a small slice of freshly buttered pumpernickel bread.  Yum.

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Haluski with Smoked Pork Sausage and Whole Wheat Fettuccine

Haluski with Smoked Pork or Veggie Sausage

Makes two hearty portions (or serves two plus a toddler)

For printable version, click here.

Haluski with Field Roast Italian Sausage and Shirataki Noodles

[BIG FRIGGING NOTE:  I just can't handle regular pasta right now; it sends my blood sugar soaring the same as if I took a swan dive into Willy Wonka's chocolate lagoon, which is so unfair.  So I substituted half of the fettuccine for shirataki noodles.  These are made of tofu and yam flour, are very low carb, bland in flavor, and have a chewy texture that Red finds repulsive and I think is bizarrely compelling.  You can find them at most health food stores, many Publix markets in Florida (in the produce section), and of course Whole Foods.  Just prep them in the microwave like the package recommends, dry them on a kitchen towel, and add them to your skillet when you throw the real noodles in the other.  Then you can have half a slice of pumpernickel with dinner and not worry about the sugar demons later :) ]

• 4 ounces fettuccine, whole wheat (or egg noodles)
• 1/2 teaspoon olive oil (or spray)
• 1 vegetarian sausage, thickly sliced (like Field Roast)
• 1 smoked pork sausage, thickly sliced (about six to eight inches long)
• 3 tablespoons butter, (or Earth Balance), divided 
• 1 onion, sliced (as big as you like, you know how much onion you want)
• 1 carrot, medium, sized, shredded
• 1 bell pepper, sliced (any color you like)
• 2 cups green cabbage, sliced (or more to your taste)
• 1/2 cup water
• smoked paprika, to taste (regular is fine, too)
• salt, to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• cayenne pepper (optional)

1. Set a 4-quart pot of salted water over a high burner. Bring to a boil. (If you are using shirataki noodles, prepare them now according to package directions).

2. Meanwhile, set two large, heavy skillets (12 inches or bigger) over medium-high heat. Make sure you lids handy for each skillet - you'll need them later.

3. Add 1/2 teaspoon oil to one heated skillet, then add the veggie sausage. Add the pork sausage to the other dry skillet. Cook until they are nicely browned on one side. Then flip all sausages and reduce the heat to medium. Cook until browned on second side. If you want crispy veggie sausage, remove it at this time. Otherwise, you can leave it in the pan. The pork sausage stays in the entire time.

4. Add the egg noodles or fettuccine to the boiling water. Let boil for 8-9 minutes (10 minutes if you're using whole-wheat pasta).

5. Add 1 Tablespoon butter to EACH skillet, then immediately add the onions and carrots, half to each skillet. Cook and stir until each is nicely softened, 3-5 minutes. Add the green pepper and cook for another minute.

6. Next add the cabbage, tossing to combine with the other veggies and sausage. Add 1/4 cup water to each skillet, then quickly cover. Cook for about 5 minutes. Check it occasionally to make sure it's not burning; the cabbage should look green and become tender, not blacken at the edges or start to smell bad. If needed, uncover the skillet briefly to add a few tablespoons more water or to stir.

7. Uncover the skillets to allow any remaining water to evaporate, and stir each skillet briefly. Drain pasta while the remaining water cooks away.

8. Toss 1/2 tablespoon of butter into each skillet, then add half the hot pasta to each one. Stir and toss to coat the noodles. Add the paprika, salt, pepper, and optional cayenne to each skillet according to your taste. You may have to season the veggie skillet more heavily. If you removed the veggie sausage, now is the time to add it back and let it reheat a little.

9. Serve hot, with rye or pumpernickel bread and cucumber salad if you like.

Nutrition information: Is over at food.com with the printable recipe, but the values given are for regular semolina fettuccine and some generic vegetarian sausage.  Field Roast - what I used - is 11 g of carbohydrates per link.  Shirataki noodles are about 4 g of carbs per serving.  And whole wheat fettuccine is a great deal more fibrous than the regular kind.  So proceed with that knowledge, and happy cooking.