Dinner Diary Day 4: Green Salad with Sausage, Potato, and Asparagus

What to do with my leftover Tofurky sausages? I had used two for pierogi night which left me with two extra. My husband always enjoys one fried with onion and bell pepper in a hoagie sandwich, but that’s an elaborate lunch idea for a work week. I decided to use mine in a salad inspired by a recipe from Morningstar Farms.

Morningstar occupies most of the real estate in the vegetarian freezer section at my grocery store; they’ve been around for a long time and seem to be holding their own against the explosion of veggie meats coming on the market. I could do a whole post just on meat alternatives, but here I will just say that our family still prefers Morningstar Grillers veggie burgers.

As for their Italian sausage, for which this recipe was created, I’m not sure it exists anymore. Tofurky makes the best sausages these days, located in the refrigerated section and available in Italian or Kielbasa flavor. I used Kielbasa here, because that’s what I had, but Italian would work perfectly.

Here’s how this comes together: Make a green salad with whatever lettuce you like. I like red leaf because of the color and the tender crunch. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been scared off romaine after the multiple recalls for e-coli. That can happen only so many times before I decide romaine is not worth the stress. Plus, romaine leaves can be tough, with so much spine that they lack flavor.

Note to salad lovers: I ALWAYS wash and spin my lettuce a day or two before serving the salad. I store it in the fridge in a freezer bag with a couple of paper towels to absorb excess moisture. I cannot emphasize enough how much drier and crisper your lettuce will be when prepared this way. Dry and crisp lettuce makes a much better host for dressing and toppings.

Once I toss the lettuce with my favorite dressing and divide among plates, I top it with warm red potatoes, asparagus, and sliced sausage. Then I drizzle with a spicy brown mustard dressing for extra zing. A salad with warm toppings feels fancy to me, even though it’s not much work and requires little skill.

Don’t fall from your chair, but my son actually ate EVERY BITE of this salad. It helps that he loves sausage and I didn’t give him the asparagus. Still, he put quite a bit of salad in his belly, which was gratifying to see, even if he ate it with his finger-thumb pincers rather than a fork.

This recipe takes more pots and bowls than I would like, but it hardly feels like cooking—more like preparing—so I consider this an easy dinner. Hopefully you have a dishwashing volunteer among your people who can help you out. I have found simply walking away from the dirty dishes to be an effective technique to solicit a volunteer.

Green Salad with Sausage, Potato and Asparagus (adapted from Morningstar Farms)

Serves: 4

Time: 30 minutes (if you have the salad already washed and ready, which I recommend!)

1 large or 2 small heads red leaf lettuce (or 1 small head red leaf plus a few handfuls spinach or arugula)

¼ red onion, thinly sliced (optional)

1 lb new potatoes, (the red potatoes, and best to get them smaller so they’ll cook faster)

1 bunch asparagus, stumps snapped off and sliced into 1-inch pieces

2-3 Tofurky sausage links, cut into 1/3-inch-thick moons

Crusty bread (optional)

Dressing

I recommend dressing your lettuce with your favorite vinaigrette dressing, homemade or bottled. Then make this spicy dressing to drizzle over each plate once the toppings are on. Dressing the whole salad with the spicy dressing might cause your kids not to eat it or steam to shoot from your nostrils.

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard

4 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 clove garlic

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring a medium/large pot of water to a boil. Add generous salt. Drop in potatoes and boil until almost tender all the way through, around 15 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes. While the potatoes cook, make the dressing. When potatoes are almost done, drop in asparagus. Boil for about 3 minutes, then drain everything.

Place sausages in a medium skillet with one tablespoon oil and sauté over medium heat until lightly browned on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and let them sit in the pan until you’re ready for them.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, halve or quarter them to make bite-size pieces. Toss the lettuce and onion with your vinaigrette of choice and divide among four plates. Then top each plate with the warm sausage, potato, and asparagus. Drizzle with spicy dressing. Serve with crusty bread if you like.