New England Boiled Dinner

One of the meals my Mom would make when I was a kid growing up in Massachusetts (nine out of 10 people in the West prounounce it 'Massatooshits') was a New England Boiled Dinner.

Pour yourself a glass of wine and pull up a chair. This meal will take about an hour-and-a-half from start to finish and it wants you to be there the whole time!

This stuff goes into the pot (and don't be starting out with a little itty bitty pot... you've got to have a big pot for this meal! )
Ingredients: potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, linguica.

Linguica is a spicy Portuguese sausage made from pork.

Linguica, much to my dismay, is not to be found in Havre, Montana, so I substituted Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage (because I like their TV commercials... Go Meat!)

Fill your pot about half-way with water and light a fire under it.

Peel the onions. Figure on one large onion per person. Put the onions into the water and bring to a boil and cook about 20 minutes at a medium boil.

Then peel the potatoes and cut them in half (again, figure on one potato per person). Add the potatoes to the pot, bring to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes.

Peel the carrots and cut in 2" chunks. Add them to the pot, bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.

Now, peel the outer layer from the cabbage and cut the whole thing into quarters. You should have four wedges of cabbage. (If you don't, something went terribly wrong.)

Add the cabbage wedges to the pot, bring to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes.

Due to a memory card malfunction I didn't get a picture of the finished meal, but trust me, it was yummy, yummy, yummy!

Cut a piece of good sourdough bread to sop up the juices and enjoy with some Dijon mustard (which is good on the carrots, potatoes, cabbage and sausage). You'll be amazed at how flavorful this meal is and all because you just boiled some vegetables!

I wish my Mom was here to enjoy this meal with us. Here's to you Mom (heart)!