Authentic Creole Rougaille Saussice

Our lovely friends, Tim and Ève, who were in our wedding, taught me how to make this traditional Creole dish six or seven years ago on a visit to their apartment in Eugene. It is one of my favorite meals of all time and so easy to prepare!

Authentic Creole Rougaille Saussice

Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp turmeric
1 Tbsp thyme
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (if desired)
4-5 small onions, cut into petals
4-6 links Andouille sausage
1 28 oz can tomatoes

Basmati rice for serving

Recipe
Prepare basmati or similar rice according to the package instructions.

Meanwhile, slice onions into petals and heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat in a dutch oven or similar. When warm, add onions and sauté until softened and translucent, about 5-8 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the sausages. Add spices when the onions are ready and give a good stir to coat. Add sausage, cook, stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes.

Once the sausages are a bit browned, add the tomatoes. Lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally and crushing the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.

Serve over hot rice.

I always cut the onions into a petal shape because once they're softened and in the sauce, they are nicer to eat in this shape and stay on your fork more easily.

Once the spices are added to the softened onion, if you choose to add red pepper flakes, be aware that the time between adding the spices and sausage and adding the tomatoes will determine how hot your spices get. For less heat, add the red pepper flakes after the tomatoes, just immediately before, or not at all. We leave them out so Coco can eat it, too. I also don't like to cover the sweet flavor of the tomatoes and turmeric together. If you want it really spicy, add your spices and allow them to fry a bit before stirring in the tomatoes and scraping up the brown bits with your wooden spoon.

After three years, I finally found a sausage in Switzerland that works with this recipe. It's a seasonal summer one, so when summer is coming to an end, my freezer will be full of these! 

And, a little public service announcements about BPA-lined cans. Did you know that the white-lined cans have BPA inside of them?! It's extra terrible to buy tomatoes out of BPA-lined cans because the acid in the tomatoes releases even more of the toxic chemical into the food. After some searching, the only BPA-free can of tomatoes I've found in Coop is the Prix Garantie 800 gram can. It's only 85 Rappen per can, so cheap, cheap, cheap (and not organic;) but the tomatoes are Italian, taste great and not having the BPA in the can is a huge priority for me. So these are our go-to canned tomato for that reason. 

I enjoy this meal regardless of the weather and it works really well with the Trader Joe's Andouille Chicken sausage. I'm sure it would also be delicious with smoked tofu or tempeh if you're vegetarian. Let me know how it turns out if you try either of those. Enjoy!