(One of My Own) Sausage and Potato Ragout! An ode to French Chef Jacques Pepin

When I was a kid, I arose out of bed every Saturday morning around 7am for one reason and one reason only- to watch cartoons! If anything had gotten in my way of the cartoons, not only was my weekend shot, but so was my entire week. Without cartoons, what else was there to talk about on the school yard. Once I hit my early twenties (that's the first time I ever said "my early twenties!" I feel old...) I, of course, had long given up cartoons. I went to cooking shows instead. How I made such a transition, I don't know. As far as cooking, I never strayed much further than recipes for pouring cereal. I used to watch cooking programs with my dad. The PBS station in the Bay area had some great programs. Each one was suited to cultural tastes in food. Martin Yan (Yan Can Cook) cooked Asian, Nick Stellino (Cucina Amore) cooked Italian, and Jacques Pepin cooked French. Julia Child is self explanatory. Pepin stands out the most in my mind. For a French chef, he's really down to earth. I supposed that was impressive enough. Plus, his dishes lean towards the economical!
This dish, though reasonably economical, probably wasn't the healthiest. The Italian sausages were from the HyVee deli. They were $.80 per sausage. I bought 5 for $4.50 which is the average price for sausages, but these were longer than packaged sausages. The recipe called for jalapenos but instead of adding chopped jalapenos, the sausages I bought were made with them. As much as I love spicy food, I never did care for the taste of jalapenos. Only when their flavor is hidden will I eat them.
A friend stopped by as I began prepping so I had trouble focusing on what I was doing. That didn't hinder the ultimate result. My friend can verify that completely! I added 1/2 cup of water to a sauce pan. As I waited for it to boil, I sliced 3 sausages and placed them in the water. I had them on high for 10 minutes. After that, I reduced the heat to a simmer and added 1.5 tbs of flour. Stirring it was a no-brainer! I added sea salt, ground pepper, thyme, and a bay leaf. I also added a little more water- almost 1/2 cup. In the mean time, I sliced three red potatoes and an onion. After 30 minutes, the water and flour had turned into a thick sauce. The sausage fat had certainly contributed to the taste of the sauce as well as to the unhealthy aspect of the dish. But it was so good nevertheless! I took the sausages out, leaving the sauce. Since "ragout" refers to a main dish stew, I preferred to have the sausages and potatoes with onions separate. Otherwise, they were supposed to be mixed together. There was enough sauce to soak the potatoes and onions in. I did that for between 10-15 minutes on simmer. When all was said and done, I sprinkled the potatoes with parsley. Their crispiness was exactly how I wanted it. I would have preferred them a little more browned but Pepin warned in his recipe to "be careful not to cook them into a puree." So I heeded his warning! I had never thought of pairing potatoes with sausages. It was well worth the try. I think this is the best meal I've cooked yet. The recipe can be found in Pepin's book Cuisine Economique. Happy cooking!