Sausage and Zucchini

Merrystar makes this fairly often: it’s a one-skillet job, simple to throw together after work, and (fairly) easy to do with Trip underfoot. (The trickiest part is when you’re removing the casings from the sausage. That’s the only messy part of making this one.)

I’ve seen her do it enough that I can do it basically right, but I always - ALWAYS - screw up and put the wrong tomatoes in. (Tonight, I used stewed, not diced.) It didn’t surprise me that there was no recipe, or at least no recipe that we have in our files.

Here’s what you need:

• One package of sweet italian turkey sausage (Shady Brook Farms or similar, but really any type of sausage will work)
• One medium onion, diced
• Three or four fresh medium-sized zucchinis, diced
• Two cans of diced tomatoes, no salt, drained (Del Monte is the usual brand we have on hand)
  * Shredded cheese (omitted when I’m eating.)

Grab a large covered skillet and:

1. Chop up the onion and put into the skillet on medium-low heat.
2. Remove the casings from the turkey sausage and add to skillet. Separate into chunks with a fork while browning.
3. Add the zucchini after the sausage is browned. Cover the skillet and let everyting cook for 15 minutes or so.
4. When the zucchini has started to soften up, add the drained tomatoes. (If you’re busy, don’t bother waiting. Dump the tomatoes in at the same time.)
5. Simmer on low heat. If a lot of liquid forms, remove the cover to let it boil off.
6. (Optional: add the cheese a little before serving to cook it into the mixture.
   There’s no absolute time limit here - I usually can get this done in 30-45 minutes, Merrystar is a bit faster with her prepwork and can do it in 30 minutes.

Serves 4.

Merrystar notes: It’s actually easier to use non-link sausage; the sausage I like just happens to come in links. For faster prep, the link sausage can just be sliced up, or (I suppose) even cooked whole. And in summer it’s nice to use fresh tomatoes, not canned.

A nice variation is to use spinach instead of the zucchini: cook the sausage; add undrained tomatoes (and a pinch of sugar); let it simmer for awhile (the longer the better really) and then dump in a whole bag of baby spinach to wilt a few minutes before serving. Eat with crusty bread to mop up the broth.