Creamed Green Beans, Red Potatoes, and Sausage

This recipe is really special, not only because my Mom and I whipped it together from memory, but because it is a recipe of my Grandma Walters. While making this with my Mom, and then tasting the creamy, peppery beans, potatoes, and sausage, I was flooded with memories and images of my Grandma and being in her kitchen. 

This recipe is best with fresh  green beans and red potatoes, but works well with frozen green beans too. It is a wonderful way to highlight some of the beautiful summer bounty that is so readily available this time of year!

Creamed Green Beans, Red Potatoes, and Sausage
From My Mom and Gram Walters
Printable Version
Ingredients
2 cups fresh green beans, with the ends snipped off
2 cups red potatoes, cleaned
1 package of sausage (we used chicken sausage)
2 cups milk
1 stick of butter
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Bring a large heavy pot to boil and put in potatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes and then add in green beans. Cook beans and potatoes about 10 minutes more, being sure to check both for desired tenderness. 

Begin the roux by heating the butter in a small pan over low to medium heat.  Slowly add the flour to the butter, whisking constantly. The roux will begin to have a thick consistency, like frosting. At this point, slowly add the milk, about half a cup at a time. Continue to whisk quickly and constantly, adding the milk and keeping the heat at medium. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper. My family likes a lot of pepper in this, so we end up using about a teaspoon! Meanwhile slice sausage and saute in a pan with a drizzle of olive oil or cooking spray. Cook fully on both sides, about 5 minutes. 

Drain the beans and potatoes and then add back to the large pot. Place the sausage in the pot as well and mix together. Pour the cream sauce over the entire pot and carefully combine. Serve immediately.

Stuffed Shells

I decided to combine/modify two different stuffed shells recipes for this dish. One recipe comes from my good friend and next door neighbor, Cheryl, who posted a recipe for Spinach & Sausage Stuffed Shells on her cooking blog Two Friends With Spice. The second recipe is from Allison, a former first grade student (now third grade student), who emailed me her mom's stuffed shells recipe because she said it it her most favorite thing her mom made. I thought both recipes sounded good so I went back and forth between them, using some ingredients from both recipes and following both recipe's directions. I guess that it goes to show my cooking confidence has greatly improved because I didn't follow either recipe to a "T", unlike my former cooking self would have. I am proud of the fact that I am now courageous enough to take liberties when I cook and still have things turn out!

How then, to combine both recipes for you, is the conundrum. It just goes to show that you, too, will have to cook using your own judgement and personal assessments.

Stuffed Shells

Modified from Cheryl and Allison/Jody

Ingredients:

1 12 oz package jumbo pasta shells

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped

1 lb Italian Sausage (I used Apple & Chicken Sausage)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large egg, lightly beaten

6 ounces of low fat cottage cheese

7 ounces of ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano

1 (14 1/2 ounces) can of Italian styled stewed tomatoes, cut up & drained

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook jumbo shells according to package. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.

While shells are boiling, preheat the oven to 375. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about five minutes. Add the sausage to the pan, breaking it into small pieces (I chopped the sausage into bite sized pieces beforehand). Cook until no pink remains in sausage. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. 

In a large bowl combine egg, cottage cheese, ricotta, half of the parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons of parsley, oregano, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Stir in the onion, sausage, and garlic mixture until evenly mixed. 

Spread a thin layer of the chopped tomatoes in the baking dish. Stuff each shell with some of the sausage and cheese mixture. Arrange in the baking dish, open side up. Spread the remaining tomatoes over the top of the pasta shells. 

Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Remove the foil and grate the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese over the top. Bake, uncovered for 10 more minutes. 

Note: the top picture of the stuffed shells really doesn't do it justice. I am crossing my fingers that we will get a new camera in the near future so my food doesn't look so blah!