Foraging
There wasn’t much in my fridge to make a decent dinner tonight. But before throwing in the towel and grabbing hot and sour from around the corner, I focused on what I DID have (cue: pat on my own back) and managed to make something pretty good out of kitchen scraps.
I had one lonely Italian (fennel and chili) sausage, as well as the last few stewed tomatoes from a can, a decent head of broccoli, half of an orange bell pepper and a cup or so of chicken stock. I also had a juicy garlic bulb and pantry spices.
After removing the casing, I made tiny balls from the sausage which I browned until golden, then tilted the pot to remove all but a tablespoon of the rendered fennel and chili-flecked oil. I tossed in bias-cut peppers to saute for a couple of minutes, followed by chopped garlic, sliced broccoli stems and a bay leaf. When the peppers where soft, I added a can of chickpeas which I drained and rinsed, a few crushed tomatoes with their juice, topped off with chicken stock and a lid.
This stewed for 15 minutes, then I added the florets and a bit of salt. When the florets were tender, I checked the seasoning and served this kitchen scrap stew in a bowl with a good squeeze of Meyer lemon juice, some grated romano and enough chopped parsley to feed a hungry rabbit family for a year.
Parsley solves all problems.