Grocery shopping in NYC can be a mixed bag.  On one hand, I’ve got a 24-7 Korean grocer two blocks away who has lots of produce (even if it is of anonymous origin) and high-end staples (even if they are kind of expensive).  On the other hand, I can’t get in a car and drive to Trader Joe’s or Wholefoods, instead having to do my best to squeeze into the average day sizable blocks of time to get to stores that aren’t really convenient.  The result, particularly as the work hours and the number of jobs increase, is too often an 8:00 p.m. choice between a motley mix of past-their-prime leftovers and takeout.

So  I’ve decided to focus, whenever possible, on whipping together dinners from assorted odds and ends in the fridge: the quarter gourd of a butternut squash, the apple that by tomorrow will be too soft, the spicy pickles hiding in a tub in the back corner.

The other evening, I came up with the following.

Jay’s Sweet and Shredded Mexican Sausage

Ingredients:

• 1 small sweet potato (sitting on the counter for a week and a half)
• 7 ounces of real or fake sausage (half a package left over from brunch a few days prior)
• half a package of frozen broccoli florets (living in the freezer for however long)
• two handfuls of salad greens (bought on sale around the corner)
• cheddar cheese (a staple, duh)
• half a medium red onion, chopped (hanging out in a ziplock in the fridge)
• guacamole (one of those Trader Joe’s guac packs that can live in the freezer indefinitely)
• rice
• cornmeal or flour (optional)
• assorted spices from the cabinet, including lemon-pepper and taco seasoning

I had half a log of Gimme Lean fake-o veggie sausage that needed to go.  Break it into a bunch of marble-sized nuggets and then rolled them in a mixture of cornmeal, salt, and lemon-pepper.  Flour or even just the salt and pepper works too.  Then put them over medium heat in maybe a tablespoon of oil in an iron skillet.  Keep the skillet moving for a few minutes until the outside looks crispy, then lower the heat, cover the pan, and periodically shake it while following the other steps.

I love sweet potatoes.  They’re stupid healthy, and since I love preparing a veggie such that it seduces a person who typically doesn’t like it (my fantastic wife, for instance), it’s high on my current list of ingredients.  I had one left after an evening of making Indian Sweet Potato fries, and it needed to be used up.   Shred it using a cheese grater, a novel method of treating potatoes and squash and one that I’m on a kick utilizing at the moment.  Because it so thoroughly changes the shape and texture of the veggie, it makes it newly fun.  Set the potato aside.

Pour the frozen broccoli in a bowl, cover it, and nuke it in the microwave to defrost.

Stir the shredded sweet potato and broccoli florets into the pan with the sausage.  Add a little bit more oil, plus taco seasoning.  We used a Penzi’s kind we got for Christmas, but the third ingredient in it is lactose, which is weird, and which also adds a level of sweetness that’s kind of disconcerting.  To offset that, I added cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and salt.  You can basically make your own taco seasoning from the same.  Then add a dash of red or white-wine vinegar.  Cover and leave over low heat.

Stir in a spoonful of the cornmeal mixture to the rice when it’s soaked up all the water and you’ve turned off the burner.  It adds a cool and unusual texture when it pseudo cooks in the head.  Then spoon rice into a bowl, add a layer of the greens, scoop your sausage-potato mixture on the top, add a sprinkling of cheese, some chopped onions, and the defrosted guac on the side.

The whole thing took about forty-five minutes from start to finish, and the toppings, obviously, can be tweaked in whatever way you’d like.