Warm Sausage and Couscous Salad with Chinese Cabbage

We made this dish with some of the venison sausage that we made earlier in the week. You can kick the flavor up a notch with spicy italian sausage, but any kind will do.

This recipe will make enough for four people, or in our case enough for two with leftovers for lunch.

Warm Sausage and Couscous Salad

3 Sausage links
1 Green bell pepper (diced)
1/2 Medium onion (diced)
4 Cloves of garlic (minced)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoon dry vermouth
1 Cup dry couscous
1/2 Cup water
1/2 Cup chicken broth
Salt
Pepper

Brown the sausage in the olive oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Set the sausage aside after they have browned, leaving the oil in the pan. Cook the onion, garlic, and peppers until soft and beginning to brown. Deglaze the pan with the vermouth, scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Take the pan off the heat. After the sausage has cooled enough to handle, cut the links into bite sized pieces.

While the vegetables are cooking, bring the water and chicken broth to boil in a medium pot with a pinch of salt. Stir the couscous into the boiling water. Remove the couscous from the heat, cover and set aside for 4-5 minutes.

After the vegetables are done and the couscous has had time to sit, add the sausage and couscous the the vegetables and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Sauteed Chinese Cabbage

1 Head of chinese cabbage
4 Cloves of garlic (minced)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 Cup chicken broth
Salt
Pepper

Rinse any dirt off of the cabbage and roughly chop into medium size pieces. Sautee the garlic in the oil over medium high heat. Add the cabbage to the pan when the garlic is beginning to brown. The cabbage looks like a lot when it is uncooked, so don't worry if it looks like too much for your pan because it will cook down a lot.

Toss the cabbage in the pan while it cooks, making sure that none of it burns. After the cabbage has lost most of its water and is soft, add the chicken broth and sprinkle the pan with salt and pepper. Continue to cook over medium high heat, periodically tossing the cabbage, until most of the chicken broth has evaporated.