Spicy Sausage Sandwiches

On April 17, 2019 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn RecipesLeave a comment

We enjoyed a lot of different sausages during our time in Germany, including currywurst. Another thing that we enjoyed was going to our local butcher and seeing what seasonable meats were available. We are fortunate that have a butcher in our home town that does the same, so we went there a couple of weeks ago and we were able to get some Linguica sausage. It is a spicy cured sausage from Portugal and we cooked it in a spicy curry and chili sauce. We made more sauce than we needed for the sausages and plan to use it on some other things as well. It was simple, delicious, and definitely registered on the spicy scale. The sauce would be great with hot dogs, bratwurst, or beef links as well. Although not exactly the same as currywurst, it certainly satisfied that craving.

INGREDIENTS

2 to 4 Sausage Links – Linguica or other style
12 oz Beer – something that you would enjoy drinking
1 cup Chili Sauce
1/4 cup Malt Vinegar
2 tbsp Light Brown Sugar
2 tsp Curry Powder
2 tsp Hot Sauce
1 1/2 Onion – thickly sliced
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Hoagie Rolls

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine the chili sauce, salt and pepper, brown sugar, curry powder, hot sauce, malt vinegar, and beer in a large sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat until it starts to simmer. Continue cooking for another 5 to 7 minutes to reduce the sauce. While the sauce is thickening, brown the sausage in a skillet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the sausage and add another tablespoon of olive oil and the onion to the skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook the onion until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the sausages and onion to the sauce and simmer together just for a couple of minutes just to let the sauce coat the sausage and onion. Butterfly the sausage so that it will lay flat, place on the rolls, and spoon onions and sauce over top.

Spicy Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Hot

On January 30, 2019 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Recipes3 Comments

There are certain places that you travel to where the use of spices is quite abundant. Needless to say, with rare exceptions all food has some sort of spices in it, even if it is just salt and pepper. Some places, though, go way beyond a few common ingredients and use a wide variety of spices in them. We really enjoy eating foods that have a variety of spices and have a sense of being exotic. Clearly it isn’t for everyone and we also enjoy foods that are spicy in the sense of heat as well. Since we try to recreate dishes from places that we travel, here are a few of the spicy dishes that we have previously prepared, in no particular order.

Asian Roasted Duck – Not as complicated as it sounds and truly delicious.
Asian Duck
Spicy Chicken Curry – Definitional a traditional favorite.
Spicy Chicken Curry
Indian Butter Chicken – Cooking it in a slow-cooker makes it tender and flavorful.
Indian Butter Chicken
Tandoori Chicken – An exotic reminder of our trip to India.
Tandoori Chicken and Fried Eggplant
Spaghetti Arrabbiata – One of our favorite meals from, of all places, Frankfurt.
Our Version of Spaghetti Arrabbiata
Lamb Biryani – Well worth the effort and we decided to give it a little bit of heat.
Lamb Biryani over Basmati Rice
Moroccan Chicken – Cooked in a tajine, it is a one pot meal that is perfect for two.
Moroccan Chicken in a Tajine

Delicious Lamb Biryani

On August 15, 2018 By Living The Q Life Travel AdventuresIn Product Reviews, Recipes6 Comments

This is a sponsored post on behalf of The Spice House. The recipe and all opinions are our own.

Our favorite meal when we visited India was Lamb Biryani. It isn’t a particularly difficult dish to create, but it does take a bit of time and preparation. One of the reasons that it is so flavorful is that it uses a variety of spices, some of which can be difficult to find. We used several spices from The Spice House and created our own take on Lamb Biryani. It turned out to be quite delicious and very fragrant. Depending on how spicy you like your food, you can control some of the heat by changing the amount of cayenne pepper or type of green chili that you use. We served ours over Basmati rice, but regular rice would be just as good.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb Lamb Shoulder Chops – cut into 1 inch cubes
8 Whole Cloves
4 Black Cardamom Pods
4 Cinnamon Sticks
1 Large White Onion – sliced thinly
1 tbsp Minced Garlic
1 tbsp Minced Ginger
3 tbsp Fresh Mint Leaves – chopped
3 Tomatoes – chopped
3 Serrano Peppers – chopped (and deseeded for less heat)
2 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tbsp Harissa Spread
4 tbsp Plain Yogurt
2 tbsp Lemon Juice – fresh squeezed
1/2 tsp Saffron
2 tbsp Warm Milk
1 cup Basmati Rice – cooked to package directions
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
Salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium heat and, once the oil is heated, add the cloves, cardamom pods, and cinnamon sticks for about 1 minute until they are fragrant. Add the onion and cook until lightly brown stirring frequently, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Stir in the mint and cook for 1 minute more. Add the lamb to the onion and spice mixture and cook until the meat begins to brown on all sides, about 15 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, serrano peppers, and cayenne pepper and cook for about 10 minutes. Finally, stir in the yogurt, milk, saffron, harissa spread, and lemon juice and cook for about 15 minutes. Serve over the rice.