Garlicky grains with asparagus and sausage

Name: Garlicky grains with asparagus and sausage
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: ½ asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces; 8 oz chicken sausage, cooked, halved and sliced into half-moons; 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced; ¼ cup parsley, leaves and tender stems, chopped; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 cup cooked grains (barley, farro, brown rice, quinoa, whatever is already in the fridge); 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar; ½ tsp dried oregano; ½ tsp garlic powder; ¼ tsp red pepper flakes; 1 oz feta, crumbled; salt, pepper

Whatever cooked grain is in the fridge, warmed through a skillet of browned sausage and asparagus with far too much garlic.

At a Glance

Time

25 min

Adjust servings

Story

Sliced garlic and grated garlic are not interchangeable in a hot pan. Sliced goes in thirty seconds before the liquid and turns sweet and nutty at the edges; grated has ten times the surface area and burns bitter in the same half-minute. Six cloves sliced is assertive and pleasant. Six cloves grated is a mistake you taste for an hour.

Ingredients

½ asparagustrimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
8 oz chicken sausagecooked, halved and sliced into half-moons
6 cloves garlicthinly sliced
¼ cup parsleyleaves and tender stems, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup cooked grainsbarley, farro, brown rice, quinoa, whatever is already in the fridge
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1 oz fetacrumbled
saltpepper

Method

Adapted from Caroline Chambers, whose version exists because her children will eat chicken sausage. It works on any cooked grain you happen to have, which is its actual reason to exist on a Tuesday.

Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Asparagus, sausage and a big pinch of salt in. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is browned and the asparagus is bright and just tender.
Sliced garlic in for the last 30 seconds, no longer.
Grains in, along with most of the parsley, the vinegar, oregano, garlic powder, pepper flakes and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Stir over the heat a minute or two, until everything is warmed through and combined.
Taste and push the salt and the acid further than feels right, because grains swallow both. Feta crumbled over, the rest of the parsley on top.