Black beans, sausage and white rice / Feijão preto com salsicha e arroz branco

What have I done to diserve this?

Today I spent the whole afternoon getting a new digital tv and internet package for my parents [I can't believe that they'll have more download and upload speed than I have at home! Hmm... That's definitely a reason for visiting them more often], then we had to fix my car's headlight, and after that... oh well, it didn't leave me any time to cook something more complex for dinner.

But no worries: I always have a couple of meals as a back-up plan when this happens. Do you have some as well?

So tonight we had black beans with sausage and white rice.

Pour olive oil in a pan and add half an onion and 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped. When they're soft, add a can of black beans - with the sauce. Season it with salt and hot sauce, add sliced sausages and let it cook for about 10 minutes, until the sauce starts reducing [but not too much - you'll want that juice over the rice!]

Serve with white rice [boil 1 cup of rice in 2 cups of water seasoned with salt] and a tomato and lettuce salad.

***

O que é que eu fiz para merecer isto?

Hoje passei a tarde inteira a tratar de um novo pacote digital de tv e internet para os meus pais [Não acredito que vão ter mais velocidade de download e upload do que eu tenho em casa! Hmm... É definitivamente uma razão para os visitar mais vezes], depois tivemos de arranjar um farol do meu carro, e depois disso... bem, não me deixou tempo nenhum para fazer qualquer coisa mais complexa para o jantar.

Mas sem stress: tenho sempre algumas refeições como plano B quando isto acontece. Também tens?

Por isso esta noite jantámos feijão preto com salsicha e arroz branco.

Verte azeite numa caçarola e adiciona meia cebola e 2 dentes de alho, picados grosseiramente. Quando tiverem amolecido, adiciona uma lata de feijão preto - com o molho. Tempera com sal e picante, junta as salsichas às rodelas e deixa cozinhar durante 10 minutos, até o molho começar a reduzir [mas não demasiado - vais querer esse sumo por cima do arroz!]

Serve com arroz branco [coze 1 chávena de arroz em 2 chávenas de água temperada com sal] e uma salada de tomate e alface.

Sausage meatballs and tomato and mozzarella salad

No matter how much work and passion I put into a home-cooked meal for my friends, what really matters is if they enjoyed it at the end.

So, for a better chance of success, always try to know what they like or dislike - and most importantly, if there are any ingredients they are allergic to. 

This meal is easy and quick to prepare and if your friends like sausage, they will most certainly love this.

Take the amount of sausage you want to use and boil them. You can choose any kind, but do try to check which types of sausage your friends like. I've used 2 different kinds here, as you can see. 

Take them off the water and let them cool. 

Take all the meat out of the skin and mash it with a fork. Do it separately for each kind of sausage.

Then roll the mashed meat into small meatballs.

Pour just a little bit of olive oil into a pan and fry the meatballs.

At the same time, prepare a simple SALAD. Start by choosing some nice tomatoes.

Then add buffalo mozzarella cheese and a pinch of salt and finally pour some olive oil. Give it a toss and it's ready to go.

Enjoy!