Poblano Pepper Scramble – A Taste of the Southwest

We don’t often eat breakfast because we’re usually out and about first thing in the morning. We do, from time to time, have breakfast for dinner. When we were in Telluride, we had breakfast where we got a poblano egg scramble, which was quite delicious. Since our poblano pepper plant had several ripe peppers on it, we decided to recreate it over the weekend. A scramble is nothing more than an omelet where you scramble up the eggs as opposed to letting it set. We always add milk to our eggs since we find them to be fluffier. We did end up having this for dinner, but obviously it is perfect for breakfast. This recipe was just for the two of us, but it easily scales to more people.

Poblano Pepper Plant

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 1/4 cup Tomatoes – diced
  • 1/4 cup Poblano Peppers – seeded and diced
  • 1/4 cup Red Onion – diced
  • 1/4 cup Cheddar Cheese – shredded
  • 2 tbsp Milk
  • 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
Fresh Ingredients

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the butter in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add the tomatoes and cook for about another 3 to 4 minutes. Whisk together the eggs and milk and add to the skillet. Stir frequently until the eggs are almost cooked to the firmness that you prefer and then add the cheese for the final minute or two.

Scramble the Eggs
Sauté Vegetables
Adding the Cheese to the Scramble
The Poblano Pepper Scramble

Polish Sausage, Peppers, and Onions, and a Warm, German Potato Salad

Sausage is something that can be found throughout the world, but we definitely had plenty during our time living in Europe. We have a local butcher who prepares different styles of sausage based upon what is fresh and available during the time of year. We went to the butcher a couple of weeks ago and picked up some Polish sausage as well as a red pepper sausage. We decided to take the Polish sausage and combine with a sautéed peppers and onions. Even though we never had warm potato salad while in Germany, it is something that we enjoy and this was our first time making it at home. We used fingerling potatoes, which held up nicely and added a little color to the salad.

Simmering Polish Sausages

INGREDIENTS

Sausage and Peppers

  • 2 Polish Sausages
  • 1/2 Red Pepper – roughly julienned
  • 1/2 Yellow Pepper – roughly julienned
  • 1/2 Red Onion – sliced
  • 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
Warm, German Potato Salad

Warm Potato Salad

  • 1/2 lb Fingerling Potatoes
  • 1/8 lb Bacon
  • 1/3 Red Onion – chopped
  • 1/2 Stalk Celery – chopped
  • 1/4 tsp Flour
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Sautéing the Peppers and Onion

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut the potatoes in half and add them to a pot with cold water and season with salt. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are tender, when a knife easily slips in and out of the potato. Drain the potatoes, place in a bowl, and set aside. In a skillet, cook the bacon until it is almost crispy and then place on a paper towel. If cooking an entire package of bacon, as we did, drain all but one tablespoon of the bacon fat. Add the flour, salt, and pepper and whisk until smooth in order to make a roux. Add the water and vinegar and continue to whisk until the liquid is slightly thick. Roughly chop the bacon and return it to the pan along with the onion and celery. Cook over medium-high heat until the vegetables are tender and translucent. Pour enough of the dressing over the potatoes and toss until the potatoes are coated (you might not need all of the dressing). Cover the potatoes to keep warm or place them in the oven on a low heat to keep warm.

In another skillet, heat one tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat and cook the sausage until fully cooked and the skin is caramelized. Remove the sausage and let rest. Add the other tablespoon of oil, the peppers, and the onion and cook the vegetables until slightly soft. Add the sausage back to the pan for a couple of minutes to heat them back up. Slice the sausage on a bias and serve with the peppers along with the warm potato salad. Serves two.

Ingredients for the
Sauté the Vegetables for the Dressing
Polish Sausage with Peppers, Onions, and a Warm, German Potato Salad

Butcher’s Sausage with Peppers and Onions

When we lived in Frankfurt, there was a butcher located on the corner of our street where we would go and buy fresh meats for dinner. Here in Colorado, we have to go a little bit further to get to a butcher, but it is well worth the effort. Everyone talks about farm to table cooking, but for home-cooks it isn’t always as easy. We also go to a local farmer’s market every weekend to get fresh vegetables. This is a meal that definitely reminded us of Germany, not just because of the sausage, but also because of using the fresh ingredients with no preservatives. Butcher’s sausage is a sausage that is made up of meat scraps that the butcher saves as they trim up different cuts of meat. Our sausage had pork, beef, duck pate, chicken liver, and chicken. It sounds like a crazy combination, but it tasted really good. Obviously, this recipe works well with bratwurst, beef sausage, or almost any type of sausage. You can also use green pepper if you’d like, but red and orange peppers are a little sweeter. Because the sausage has a lot of seasonings inside of it, there isn’t any reason to add anything other than some salt and pepper.

Peppers and Onion from the Farmer’s Market

INGREDIENTS

  •  Two Links of Butcher’s Sausage
  •  1 Red Pepper – sliced
  •  1 Orange Pepper – sliced
  •  1/2 Red Onion – sliced
  •  2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
  •  2 Buns or Hoagie Rolls
  •  Dijon Mustard
  •  Salt and Pepper to taste

Browned Sausage and Caramelized Vegetables

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat a large skillet with the oil over medium-high heat. Be sure to slice the peppers and onion into similar size strips. Place the peppers in the pan and sauté them for about 5 to 6 minutes, until they start to soften. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and continue to sauté until peppers and onion begin to caramelize, about another 4 to 5 minutes. Butterfly the sausage and place them into the center of the pan, moving the peppers and onion towards the edge of the pan, and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes per side until the sausage begins to brown. Spread the mustard onto the bun, place the sausage cut-side down, and cover with peppers and onion.

Sautéing the Peppers and Onion

Sausage and Pepper Sandwich