Lazy Sunday Casserole

Its the WEEKEND! Although, Its not our family's "weekend" persay.....Ours is Sunday, Monday.....Anyone else have a hubby or partner that works Saturdays? I don't mind too much, it's normally the day I spend with my Mom and Sisters....today were heading to the "Big City" as Geovana so lovingly refers to Chicago as, for our cousin Isla's 4th birthday!!! I remember the day I held Miss Isla for the first time, and we had just found out days before that WE were pregnant with G! Such an exciting time in our lives! Now, our litte Curly Haired, outgoing Isla is 4 and such a beautiful little girl!

Back to this fabulous tasty CASSEROLE! As simple, as it is delicious! Now, I found the recipe on Pinterest but tweaked it to my personal liking. You can use any kind of sausage you prefer, I chose a hand cased Italain sausage from the local Plainfield meat market Tichlers. If you havent been there.....go! They have great selections and right next door is my favorite little produce spot Peter Rubi's. You can't go wrong with either place, in my opinion. Theyre both located on Route 59 between Renwick and 30. So, I can't stake my claim on this delicious dish but I CAN share it with all of you!! Here it is, Enjoy! Now, these measurements were based on me feeding my family of 4 with lunch's worth of leftovers for the next day :)

Lazy Sunday Casserole

4 sausages. Again, your choice! Maybe spice it up! We're hand cased mild Italian fans
1 pound potatoes. I have used skin on red (new) potatoes, and I also have used canned whole pototoes
1/2 pound Carrots Precut and cleaned organic baby are my FAVE theyre so sweet!
1 large Onions I prefer sweet
1 large bunch Asparagus
any other veggies you want to add. Im not a huge bell pepper fan but thats what they suggest

1/2 cup chicken broth
4 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar (this is the KEY ingredient!)
Seasonings
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Now, for seasonings I prefer Cavanders All purpose Greek Seasoning or Janes crazy mixed up salt.
Seasoning to me is key. I rarely "mix" my oil and seasonings together and then pour over food. I like to gradually season things for the right "look" It may sound crazy, but I never claimed to be sane people!

First things first......I did all of the prep work in the am so the veggiese would have some time to soak up the yummy olive oil and spices. And let me tell you, doing that was well worth the wait! This dish made the house smell incredible! So I cut everything up. Left the carrots and potatoes in tact but if you are using russest baking potatoes youll want to peel them and cut them in half, then in fourths. I did butter the baking dish because I hate scraping beautiful veggies! The amount of butter was so small you would never know. I never use Pam or any other cooking spray. Besides it being an aerosol disaster of chemicals, I totally think it changes the integrity of the food. So a little butter never hurt nobody ;)

So give that baking dish a good butter bath and toss all of your colorful yummy veggies on in. Now, I used a clear pyrex type pan but if you have metal that will work just as well. I then drizzled the broth and Olive Oil all over everything and hand tossed it a little. then seasoned everything, wrapped the top in foil and stuck the pan in the fridge. There is no rule book saying you need to do this, but I wanted to be organized before Church and I am telling you, letting those veggies soak everything up made a difference for sure!
Then, I browned the meat. I only cooked it for about 5 minutes to seal in those juices and make it nice and golden brown on the outside. I stuck that in the fridge as well. (The meat doesnt get added to the veggies until the very end of cooking)

Baking Time!!
preheat that oven to a nice toasty 450 degrees, keep the veggies covered and pop them in for about 45 mins. If they are fork tender after that time go ahead and slice up the sausage and add it to the pan, leaving it uncovered pop it back in the oven for about 30 mins. WAIT!!! We forgot the key to this dish the delicious, smooth RICH Balsamic Vinegar! Now, I am a Balsamic SNOB and I dont go cheap on this amazing ingredient. I cook with it ALOT and we use it for salad dressing too. SO make sure you put a little extra effort into picking just the right one.
I am a huge fan of Balsamic Vinegar from Modena I.G.P. - Invecchiato. You can order it here online at Gourmetfoodstore.com http://www.gourmetfoodstore.com/oilandvinegar/Balsamic-Vinegar-from-Modena-Invecchiato-details-8176.asp

If you don't care too much about what kind, try Colavita. I think I have seen it at Jewel and Whole Foods. Still delicous!

Ok, back to dinner! Dont want to keep that family waiting! Especially after they smell whats cooking! So, pull that pan back out and drizzle the Vinegar all over. In the end, this is going to almost caramelize the veggies making them sweet and tart and PERFECT!

Cook everything for a total of about 30 minutes, halfway through pull the pan out and use a turkey baster or ladle to pick up some of the juices and drizzle them on top of everything.

DING! were done! Enjoy this awesome SIMPLE dish!

I havent quite mastered the "art" of blogging photos but if you head over to Instagram, and follow me at LAIN21 you can see the finished product!. OR, head over to: http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/lazy-sunday-casserole and check out the awesome blog of the "original" recipe!

Have a great weekend!