From Our Kitchens: Sausage skillet brings back college memories

For those of you who don’t like squash or Old Bay seasoning, flip the page and come back next week. 

Ever since I became a fully-fledged, apartment-dwelling adult, I’ve had to answer the age-old question, “What should I make for dinner?” Every. Single. Night.

While it’s tempting to grab a tray from Cookout or put together a“girl dinner” assemblage of cheese, carbs and fruit, some nights I have to actually turn the stove on and get some dishes dirty. 

The downside to living alone is that there’s no one to split dinnertime tasks with. No one is there to help me make a side dish while I work on the main meal or help tackle the tower of dishes in the sink afterwards. 

For this reason, I gravitate towards meals that require very few dishes — or at least very few hand-wash only dishes. Sausage skillet really only needs three: a cutting board, a pot and a pan.

I learned this recipe from my best friend and college roommate. She’s a “measure with your heart” kind of gal and I had to watch her a few times before I got the spice proportions right. This meal got us through many a night when dining hall food just didn’t cut it. 

While it’s not uncommon for college students to be sleep-deprived and lacking certain key nutrients, we got our fair share of veggies from making this meal in our apartment-style dorm. I’ve carried this simple recipe with me to Macon and I think of her every time I make it. 

Since there aren’t any exact measurements, my version is slightly different from my friend’s. She uses shrimp in addition to the sausage, but I always skip that part. Feel free to add it back in if that’s your vibe. You can also add sauteed onions or some crushed garlic cloves. That’s the beauty of this recipe, it’s highly adaptable and far from exact.

Sausage Skillet

Ingredients

• 3 zucchinis
• 3 yellow squashes
• Half a stick of butter or some oil
• However much asparagus your heart desires
• Old Bay seasoning
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Adobo seasoning optional
• Polska kielbasa

Directions

Chop up your asparagus and start cooking them in your pot on medium with melted butter or oil. While the asparagus is cooking, get out your biggest cutting board and start chopping the zucchini and yellow squash into thin rounds. Once done throw those in with the asparagus. Let the veggies get softer, sometimes I put the top on the pot to speed up the process. 

With a heavy and generous hand, pour a lot of garlic and onion powder in the pot and give it a good toss. With an even heavier hand, add Old Bay. You might need half the container. Keep cooking the veggies. 

Chop up the kielbasa into rounds, brown them in a separate pan and sprinkle some old bay seasoning onto them. Your veggies should be very soft in the center. Toss the kielbasa in the pot with the veggies, stir and serve.