Recipe: Pumpkin Sausage Sauce

A fun filled, busy day Saturday!  I SOLD OUT (I love those words) of La Tourangelle's EVOO spray.  By Sunday, I barely had any Pumpkin Pasta Sauce left in the store and Meat Department said I sold a lot of sausage.  Yippee and a pat on my back!

Pumpkin Sausage Sauce

1 jar TFM Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
3/4 to 1 lb. bulk sweet Italian Sausage
La Tourangelle EVOO spray
2 to 3 Tbl. chicken broth
1/3 c. raw pumpkin seeds

Heat a medium pot and spray with La Tourangelle olive oil.  Add pumpkin seeds and cook until lightly toasted.  Remove from pot and set aside.

Using same pot, heat and spray with La Tourangelle olive oil. Add sausage and cook thoroughly.  Add TFM Pumpkin Pasta Sauce.  Rinse jar with broth, add contents to pan.  Simmer until heated through.  Serve over zucchini noodles or your favorite pasta. Garnish with pumpkin seeds.

This was the HIT of the day.  Delicious and perfect for the fall.  

I used La Tourangelle's EVOO as it has a nice hint of pepper on the finish.  With this hint of pepper and salt from all the other products, I didn't have to use any seasoning.  Just cook and serve.

You can also add more sausage for a thicker sauce and serve over rolls as Sloppy Joes.

Another option is to use a tad less sausage, and more chicken (or vegetable broth) to make a soup.  Garnish soup with a dollop of sour cream, a drizzle of La Tourangelle's Walnut Oil, and pumpkin seeds.

No matter how you look at it, it's comfort food!

Enjoy!

Wine and Food Tasting - October 29th & 29th

Saturday, October 28th (12:00 to 4:00 PM)

(Commonwealth Pkwy., Midlothian)

Wine  
Retrofit Chardonnay stated on their bottle, "Compare to Rombauer".  They threw down the gauntlet and I accepted the challege!  I do enjoy a comparative tasting.

• Retrofit Chardonnay
• Rombauer Chardonnay
• Acacia Pinot Noir
• Plungerhead Old Vine Zinfandel

Food 

• Zucchini Noodles with a Sausage Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
• Cream Cheese Biscuits with Pumpkin Butter
• Cheese and Chocolate pairing

Sunday, October 29th (12:00 to 4:00 PM)

(Commonwealth Pkwy., Midlothian)

Wine  

• CA'Montini Pinot Grigio
• Chateau Maycott Riesling
• Misbehaved Pinot Noir

Food  

• Zucchini Noodles with a Sausage Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
• Cream Cheese Biscuits with Pumpkin Butter
• Cheese and Chocolate pairing

October 21st & 22nd

I will not be at TFM this weekend. I'm actually on vacation, doing the Lighthouse Challenge in NJ.  I will be at TFM the following weekend (Oct. 28th and 29th) with food and wine.  I'll post the details later next week.

Food Tasting - October 14th

It's time to get ready for the holidays.  Baking season will begin and holiday parties too. We will be sampling La Tourangelle Oils and Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup .

La Tourangelle is on sale this month.

There will be two samplings.  I will be at Fresh Market, Commonwealth Pkwy.  Pat will be at TFM Huguenot.

Saturday, October 14th (1:00 to 4:00 PM)

La Tourangelle Olive Oils  

• EVOO
• Walnut Oil
• Almond Oil
• Pecan Oil
• Hazelnut Oil

Lori will be sampling Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup.

Saturday, October 14th (12:00 to 4:00 PM)
(Huguenot Rd., Midlothian)

Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup

• Wild Hibiscus Flowers with goat cheese, black pepper and chive
• Wild Hibiscus Flowers with brie, pistachios and citron sea salt on a lemon cookie

Wine and Food Tasting - September 30th

It's not a TFM Corporate sampling!  I get to do my thing!!!

Saturday, September 30th (12:00 to 4:00 PM)

(Commonwealth Pkwy., Midlothian)

Wine  

• Charles & Charles Chardonnay
• Kung Fu Girl Riesling
• Leap of Faith (Red Blend)
• MAX Cabernet

Food 

• (Quite a few new cheeses have come in.  I will be sampling a selection of those.)

Recipes: Blue Cheese-Horseradish Spread - Grape Salsa

Life has become all about what TFM Corporate wants sampled. However, I still put my spin on it if I feel a recipe falls flat.  This weekend I prepared a Blue Cheese - Horseradish Spread to go with flank steak.

My Version:

     Blue Cheese – Horseradish Spread

     17. 6 oz. container Fage Total (Greek yogurt)

     8 oz. blue cheese crumbles

     ¼ c. Stonewall Kitchen Horseradish Aioli

     ½ tsp. salt

     Place all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Mix until 

     thoroughly blended.

Customers enjoyed this recipe with a deliciously tender flank steak.  A nice balance of blue cheese and horseradish.  Aside from "delicious", comments included, "the bomb", and "amazing". It paired perfectly with Bogle Phantom Chardonnay.  This is a definite must try.  

TFM Corporate:

      Blue Cheese – Horseradish Spread

      17. 6 oz. container Fage Total (Greek yogurt)

      5 oz. blue cheese crumbles

      2 Tbl. Stonewall Kitchen Horseradish Aioli

      ½ tsp. salt

      Place all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Mix until 

      thoroughly blended.

Customers never sampled this recipe as I felt it tasted too much like Greek yogurt with very little blue cheese flavor and no horseradish notes.  Sorry, but I don't want yogurt flavor with my flank steak.  

About a month ago TFM Corporate's sampling was grape themed.  The only recipe worth posting was TFM's  Fresh Grape Salsa. 

Fresh Grape Salsa

1½ lbs. red seedless grapes, washed, de-stemmed and quartered

½ clamshell fresh mint, finely chopped

½ small red onion, finely chopped

1 Tbl. TFM red wine vinegar

½ - 1 Tbl. agave syrup

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and chill at least one hour.

Serve over goat cheese with TFM French Rounds or your favorite cracker.

Definitely a customer favorite.  Customers were amazed  they enjoyed grapes in a salsa.  Perfect over goat cheese.

Food and Wine Sampling - September 17th

I've gotten over my little snit and for days, weeks, months (not years) I've been trying to figure out how I reincorporate wine sampling.  I think I finally figured it out yesterday and will give it a test run today.  Fingers crossed!

Sunday, September 17th (2:00 to 6:00 PM)

Wine  

• Sam told me the Halloween wines were in receiving.  She was going to put them out last night.  Not sure what we have in stock, but I'll be pouring 3 of them.  I'm hoping Bogle Phantom was delivered.  This year they also introduced Bogle Phantom Chardonnay.

Food 

• Flank Steak with a Blue Cheese-Horseradish Dip
• Frontera Tortilla Chips
• Frontera Salsa
• Tomato
• Tomatillo
• Jalapeno Cilantro