Fusion or Confusion?

Fusion or Confusion?

A purist would never be happy at my table! I combine ethnic recipes and ingredients and condiments indiscriminately. I figure if it looks good together and it tastes good together, why not? 

I recall a song my mother used to sing: 

“You’d never think they’d go together

 but they certainly do:

 the combination of English muffins

 and Irish stew. 

“The Mexican army is eating salami

 and onions from Peru…etc.” 

That may not be the exact lyrics, but it’s how she sang it.  

For example, last night I prepared a “new” version of sautéed gnocci using green onions, butter, Greek seasoning, and kale, and served that with Polish sausage and green beans from the Asian market, finished with extra virgin olive oil and California powdered lemon peel, with a little Himalayan pink salt! 

Delicious combo. The gnocci goes like this: 

Heat a pan of lightly salted water to boiling – enough to boil the gnocci in. (Storebought gnocci is fine.) Cook gnocci until it foats.  

Meanwhile, chop the green onions, including green tops. The amount of onions depends on the amount of gnocci, put don’t stint.  

Chop some mild curly-leafed kale pretty fine.  

Put a couple of tablespoons of butter in a pan and heat just until it melts. Add chopped green onions, and sauté for a couple of minutes, stirring, until a bit soft, then add the drained gnocci. Sprinkle them with Greek seasoning (or any of your choice) and stir and sauté until the gnocci turns slightly golden-brown, then add kale and put a lid on the pan. Turn it down and cook over low heat for a few minutes until the kale is soft but not mushy. Remove lid and stir it all together, add a little salt and pepper if needed and stir again, then serve.  

While this was cooking I prepared the Polish sausages. I had some nice skinless critters that I put in a skillet with some water, covered, and cooked until they were heated through. Remove lid, drain, add some oil – I like olive oil for this – and brown the sausages over medium heat, turning frequently to brown all sides.  

For the green beans: snap or cut off the tough stem ends. If they are nice long thin Green Lake type beans, I like to leave them long. Put them in a skillet with water to cover, salt them a bit, and put on a lid. Let them cook until just tender. Drain the beans and dry the skillet. Then add some flavorful olive oil to the skillet, add the beans when the oil is heated. Sprinkle the beans with powdered lemon peel (or lemon seasoning) or fresh-squeezed lemon juice, a pinch of dried dill leaf, a few grinds of sea salt, and toss until the beans are tender.  Bon apetite! Mucho Gusto! Mange!