I threw together something Italian last night, since it was National Italian food day, and I used more out of my freezer (still not a day this year without something from that freezer!). Originally, I was going to use some of the Italian sausage, but instead I got a pound and a half of ground beef (the oldest, but still only 5-18) and made sort of a sausage out of that, using a recipe or two from an old Frugal Gourmet book, which I remembered had some really good Italian sausage recipes. This one had fresh bay leaf - something you don't see called for much, since not many have it! Also a little wine - The kind of thing I keep a little dry vermouth on hand for - an old Julia Child trick.
I sautéed an onion, then browned the "sausage", leaving chunks, and added a can of crushed tomatoes, some of the trimmed basil, covered the IP, and cooked it for 5 min., letting the pressure release naturally. During that time I diced up two red bell peppers, and sautéed them in some olive oil, adding a little garlic after 7 or 8 min., then set that aside. Then I uncovered the IP, and stirred in my leftover cooked brown basmati rice, about 3 cups of it, and put it on slow cook mode. After 30 min. or so, I added the bell peppers, simmered it 20 min. or so, stirred in another 2 tb of minced basil, and that was it! Here's the finished dish:
Italian "pilaf" by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
I only ate about 1/5 of it, so I have a lot of leftovers, some of which, I may top with some cheese.
![P2130005[1].jpg](/data/attachments/28/28263-9bd05181f380e0b47b5e0bf90e0e756c.jpg)
