Asian Rice Cakes: Italian Style

As Bret and I gear up for the big move, we're making a serious attempt to clear out as much of our freezer and fridge as much as possible.  The less that we have to bring with us, the easier the move!  Since we stock up on a lot of frozen vegetables and freeze a lot of our proteins, it actually has been a lot of fun finding what ingredients we have to work with.

I found two bags of dehydrated Asian rice cakes in the freezer.

I normally make Korean dukboki with these rice cakes but I decided to try to use these rice cakes with some Italian flavors.  I took a bag of rice cakes out on Saturday afternoon and rehydrated them in a bowl of water in the fridge for about twenty-four hours.

On Sunday, I found a package of sweet Italian style chicken sausage in the freezer and thought this would make a perfect addition to this dish.  I thawed the chicken sausage out in the freezer during the day.

The chicken sausages were already fully cooked, which makes cooking with them very easy.  I simply sliced them up and browned them in a Dutch oven with a few tablespoons of olive oil.

I then drained and added the rice cakes to the pot.

I also added a large can of diced tomatoes.  I felt a little sad about using canned tomatoes in the summer instead of fresh tomatoes.  Bret reminded me that we need to clean out as much of our pantry as possible so I had to take one for the team.

I added about a cup and a half of frozen spinach to the Dutch oven. 

I seasoned this mixture with garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.  I let everything simmer until we were ready to eat.

I served the Italian style rice cakes in a shallow bowl and generously topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. 

The rice cakes are typically a little chewy so it adds a bit of texture to the dish.  I honestly thought that the rice cakes made a good alternative to pasta in this dish.  I actually think I'll use the rice cakes as a pasta-alternative to soups in the winter!

I'm looking forward to cooking more of these "clean out the freezer/pantry/fridge" dishes in the next few weeks.  In between packing and travelling, I hope I'll be able to share them on the blog!