Italian Sausage Food

SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Get out about 15 to 20 feet of hog casings and soak them in warm water.
• Cut the meat and fat into chunks you can fit into your meat grinder. Mix together the salt, sugar, half the fennel seeds, black pepper, nutmeg, oregano and fennel pollen, then mix this with the meat and fat until every piece has a little on it. Put in the freezer until the meat and fat are between 30°F and 40°F. Put your grinder parts (auger, dies, blades, etc) in the freezer, too, and put a bowl in the fridge.
• Grind half of the mixture through the coarse die on your grinder, and half through the fine die. This creates a more interesting texture. If your meat mixture is still at 35°F or colder, you can go right to binding. If it has heated up, you need to chill everything back down. Use this time to clean up the grinder.
• Once the meat is cold, put it in a large bin or bowl and add the remaining fennel seeds, white wine and parsley. Mix well with your (very clean) hands for 2 to 3 minutes -- a good indicator of temperature is that your hands should ache with cold when you do this. You want to to mix until the meat binds to itself. You can also do this in a stand mixer set on its lowest setting, but I find you don't get as good a bind as you do when you do this by hand.
• You now have Italian sausage. You can leave it loose, form it into patties, or link it. I link mine most of the time. Put the loose sausage into a stuffer and thread a casing onto it. Stuffing sausage is easier with two people, one to fill the links, the other to coil, but I do it solo all the time. Stuff the links well but not super-tight, as you will not be able to tie them off later if they are too full. Don't worry about air pockets yet. Stuff the whole casing, leaving lots of room on either end to tie them off; I leave at least three inches of unstuffed casing on either end of the coil.
• To form the individual links, tie off one end of the coil. Now pinch off two links of about six inches long. Rotate the link between your hands forward a few times. (Here's a quick video on making the links) Look for air pockets. To remove them, set a large needle or a sausage pricker into a stovetop burner until it glows (this sterilizes it), then pierce the casing at the air pockets. Twist the links a little and gently compress them until they are nice and tight. Repeat this process with the rest of the sausage.
• Hang your links on a wooden clothes drying rack for at least an hour, or up to overnight if you can hang them in a place that doesn't get any warmer than 40°F or so. This lets the links cure a little, filling their casings and developing flavor. Once you've taken the links off the hanger, they can be refrigerated for up to 3 or 4 days, or frozen for up to a year.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE SOUP

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, combine the first 10 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes., Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown sausage in oil over medium heat. Add a small amount of hot water. Cover and cook until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Cut into 1/4-in. slices and add to soup. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. , Add spinach. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Garnish with Parmesan cheese if desired.

HOMEMADE ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Cut pork shoulder into cubes. Place in a bowl and refrigerate while preparing the other ingredients.
• Grind garlic with a pinch of salt in a mortar to make a paste. Add fennel, anise, and black pepper. Bruise spices lightly with a pestle to release the flavors. Add red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, oregano, marjoram, coriander, mustard, allspice, sugar, and a splash of water. Stir to combine.
• Add the spice paste to the pork cubes. Mix thoroughly by hand. Add the remaining salt. Cover and refrigerate until flavors meld, 8 hours to overnight.
• Process the cold pork through a meat grinder on the slowest speed.
• Push a casing onto the stuffing tube of your meat grinder. Feed the sausage meat through the filling tray. Run the meat through the casing on the slowest speed until all the casing is used up. Tie casing at the end into a knot. Pinch and twist the meat to create links if desired.
• Place sausage onto a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Refrigerate uncovered for 24 hours.
• Preheat a charcoal grill for medium heat. Separate the links and grill them until browned, about 5 minutes per side.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE SOUP

Steps:

• In Dutch Oven, brown sausage with garlic.
• Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, season with salt and pepper.
• Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and allow to simmer 15 minutes.
• Stir in beans with their liquid and zucchini.
• Cover and simmer another 15 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.
• Remove from heat, stir in spinach.
• Cover and allow spinach to cook in the steam from the soup for another 5 minutes or until tender.
• Serves 6.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Toast fennel seed in medium sized, heavy saute pan over medium heat, constantly moving seeds around in pan until they start to turn light brown, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Once cool, grind seeds and combine with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley in medium mixing bowl. Add pork and blend thoroughly. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Using the fine blade of a grinder, grind the pork. After lubricating stuffer or stuffing attachment with shortening, load casing onto attachment, clipping end with a clothespin. Stuff meat into casings, trying to avoid air pockets. After stuffing is finished lay out on counter and tie off end. Pinch and twist to form 4-inch sausages. Wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. Store in refrigerator for use within 2 to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. If freezing, wrap in aluminum foil. If using immediately, saute over medium heat in a heavy saute pan with 1/4-inch of water. Bring water to boil, put on lid and cook for 10 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking over medium heat, turning every 2 to 3 minutes until golden brown. Sausage should reach an internal temperature of 150 to 156 degrees F.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE RECIPE

Steps:

• Place the ground meat in a bowl and add all remaining ingredients. Use your hands or a stand mixer paddle attachment to thoroughly combine the ingredients. Wrap and chill for at least 6 hours before using, preferably overnight for best flavor.The sausage will keep in the fridge for 3 days or can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 3 months. Makes 1 pound of ground sausage.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND BEAN STEW

Steps:

• Heat oil in a pan and fry sausages to brown lightly all over.
• Turn down heat and add onion, celery and garlic over gentle heat to soften but not brown.
• Pour over Cirio Chopped Tomatoes and bring to bubbling.
• Season, then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add sage and bay leaves. Spoon in cannellini beans and stir.
• Season again and cook for another 5 minutes to heat beans.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND ONIONS

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet. Add the sausages and cook over medium heat until browned on both sides, about 10 minutes.
• Remove sausages from pan onto papertowel.
• In same pan, add onions, salt, and pepper. Cook until golden brown and softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add Italian seasoning, basil, and garlic. Cook 2 or 3 minutes.
• Add the tomato paste, stirring to coat the onions, then add the Marsala, tomatoes, and chili flakes. Stir to combine, scaping the bottom of the pan to loosen all the browned bits. Bring to a simmer.
• Cut the sausages into 1 inch pieces and add to the onion tomato mixture. Stir to combine and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture has thickened, about 30 minutes.

CREAMY SAUSAGE AND SHELLS

Steps:

• Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil and add shells. Cook according to box instructions, around 6-8 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
• Meanwhile, in a large pan over medium heat, heat 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. When oil is hot, add in sausage and shallots. Season with Italian seasoning. Cook, breaking up the pieces of meat into small bits, until the meat is cooked through and the shallots are tender. Add garlic, and cook for an additional minute.
• Add in white wine, and allow the wine to reduce by about half (approx. 2-3 minutes). Then, add heavy cream to pan, and stir to combine with meat and oil. Allow the cream to bubble slightly, then add the spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted down. (Sauce time = 13-15 minutes)
• Add in the hot shells, toss to combine. Season with freshly ground pepper, as much or as little as you like, then season with salt to your preferred taste. Add pecorino, and toss to combine. Then slowly add pasta water, bit by bit, just until you are left with a creamy uniform sauce (I used about ½ cup).

ITALIAN SAUSAGE SEASONING

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients in a jar or small dish and stir well. Store in an airtight container. (Refrigeration not necessary.)
• To use: Stir 1 Tablespoons seasoning into 1 pound ground meat. Mix well and use immediately, or let rest for 30 minutes (up to overnight (in the fridge). Form into patties, or cook as you would any regular crumbled sausage. Alternatively, you can brown beef and sauté vegetables as usual, and add the seasoning during cooking.

FETTUCCINI ALFREDO WITH SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Cook fettuccine per package directions al dente.
• While the fettuccine cooks, heat a large skillet and add the oil. Heat the oil until it shimmers and fry the sage leaves (it only takes a few seconds), in batches, until all are fried. Leave the oil in the skillet and transfer the bay leaves to paper towels to dry.
• Separate the sausage into bite-size chunks and sauté them in the oil just until cooked through (don't overcook or sear). Add the minced garlic and cook 15-30 seconds or until the garlic softens and blooms. Transfer the sausage to a plate and set aside.
• Pour off the fat from the skillet while trying to preserve as much garlic as possible. Add the cream and bring it to a low boil while scraping the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat and return the sausage to the skillet, and season with salt & pepper, to taste. Remove from the heat.
• Drain the pasta and place it on a large serving platter or bowl. Pour the sauce over the pasta, toss gently and sprinkle on the fried sage leaves.
• Garnish with grated Parmigiana.
• Enjoy!

25 WAYS TO COOK ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Select your favorite recipe.
• Organize all the required ingredients.
• Prep an Italian sausage recipe in 30 minutes or less!