Guest dinner! Veggie Links and Greens

My good friends came over for a visit.  Being those type of cool friends, while I offered to cook them grub, they brought some extra grub for me to use.  It was like a mystery bag of food!

Havarti cheese, Vegan links (think sausage links, but not trying to pretend to be meat, pack with protein and tasty).  I dug into the produce bin to see what I could use.

I came up with Pan Grilled Vegan Links with quick braised Red Chard and rice.

What I used:

• Left over rice, reheated with a little bit of veggie stock and S&P
• The veggies
• Red Chard - large viens removed and chopped, the greens slicked width wise
• leeks - diced
• carrots - diced
• turnips - diced
• stock
• spices - cumin, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano
• Links

How I put it together:

Into my pan goes the "tough stuff"; leeks, carrots, chard ribs, turnips.  Cook a little oil for about 8 or so minutes until slightly soft.  Now add some more stock, and heat that up to steamy, add the spices and the greens and bring medium heat and cover.  Cook for about 10 ish minutes until the greens are soft.

This is not a proper braising, but its quick!

The links, never seeing these types before, I just pan grilled, then added a little water to steam them up a bit.

I plated them and for the non-vegans I added the cheese to the links and the veggies.

The Aftermath:

I thought it was tasty.  Simply, rustic.  My friends found it better if they mixed the rice and veggies together.  I know my friends read this, it would be fun to see their comments below!

BotRG Toddy!

I made drinks for me friend and I (both our wives are both pregnant)  We have some brandy on hand, for it is that time of the year (my word, I could live off brandy eggnog if given the chance)

1oz Brandy, splash of lemon juice, a couple cloves and a cinnamon stick and grated nutmeg.  Into large snifter glass, add hot water.

It tasted much better half way through the glass, the spices came out more by that point.