Recipe Thursday: Sausage and Vegetable Stir Fry

Hi Everyone!

After a few week's absence, I am happy to report that Recipe Thursday is back! This recipe is so versatile and so easy to do. You can use any vegetables that you want, so it's a great way to use up things that you just have in your refrigerator. I've also made this dish with chicken in place of, as well as in addition to the sausage. I also like this recipe, because it's family friendly. If you're children are anything like mine, they don't like all the vegetables and that's ok, I just save a some of the sausage or other meats and sautee them in a separate pan by themselves for the kids. They can still have the rice and gravy and everyone is happy.
Ok, so here we go:

Ingredients:

--1lb Beef Smoked Sausage (or chicken, or both...the meat is completely your choice), chopped. Note however that if you use chicken, you will need to brown it in a separate pan first before adding it to the vegetables
--Variety of vegetables. (again, use your judgement and personal preference)
--white wine or red. you'll just need a little splash (or chicken stock)
--ingredients to make gravy
--white rice cooked according to directions

Instructions:

1. Heat a skillet with some Olive Oil over medium high heat. Chop your vegetables. They don't need to be finely chopped. I chopped some and sliced others. Add the vegetables to the skillet. I usually add the carrots and celery first because they need a little more time to soften. I added the onions and mushrooms second. Sautee for 5-6 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften. Season with a bit of salt and pepper

2. Add the sausage (or browned chicken) to the pan and mix with the vegetables and cook for a few minutes until the sausage is browned for about 4 minutes.

3. Deglaze the bottom of the pan with some wine (red or white, whatever you choose) just a couple of turns around the bottom of the pan. Cook for a few minutes until the wine evaporates. Now at this point, I remove the meat/vegetable mixture from the pan to another dish, and prepare the gravy in the same pan.

4. Prepare your gravy. Everyone has their own way of preparing gravy. I add the butter to the pan with some flour and make a roux. Then I mix in a little beef stock or chicken stock while whisking to blend the roux and the liquid.

The only thing left is to plate the dish. Put some rice in the bottom of your plate, top with a little bit of gravy and then add some of the sauteed vegetable and meat mixture.
Easy and delicious!