Spicy Italian Sausage Food

SPICY ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND CHEESE BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degree F, and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cornmeal onto a large baking sheet pan.
• Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned and no pink is left, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the basil and parsley, stirring to combine. Cool the sausage mixture completely.
• Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of cornmeal onto a lightly floured surface and place the pizza dough on top of the cornmeal. Roll the dough into a 10 by 14-inch rectangle. Spread the cooled sausage mixture over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the sausage. Brush the 1-inch border of the dough with the egg wash. Starting at a long end, roll the dough, jelly roll-style, into a log shape, pinching the edges closed as you roll. Place the bread, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet and brush the top of the bread with the remaining egg wash.
• Bake the sausage bread for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Allow bread to stand 10 to 15 minutes before slicing. To serve, slice the bread into 1-inch pieces and serve warm.
• In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, sugar, and 1 tablespoon oil and stir to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until all the flour is incorporated but the dough is still slightly sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Oil a large mixing bowl with the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Use as directed.

SPICY ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Mix the meat with the salt and sugar and refrigerate overnight, or up to 2 days. You can skip this step, but the sausage will not bind as well.
• Get out about 4 metres of sausage casings and soak them in warm water. If you want, flush them with water; this helps the stuffing process and will let you know if you have any leaks.
• Mix the minced garlic, pepper, coriander, hot paprika and oregano with the meat and fat and grind through a medium (6.5 mm) die. Chill the mixture in the freezer until it is about 0 degrees C.
• When the mixture is cold enough, add the fennel seeds, red wine and ice water and mix well with your (very clean) hands for 60 to 90 seconds. Your hands will ache with cold. You'll know the sausage is ready when it coheres in one mass. You'll also start to see whitish streaks form on the side of the container you're mixing in. You can also do this mixing in a mixer on low.
• Pack your sausage into a stuffer and thread on a length of casing. Slowly ratchet down the meat to remove all air from the stuffer and the tube the casing is on. Leave about 10 cm of casing off the end of the tube; you'll use this to tie off later. Stuff one big coil of sausage rather loosely. If you have more sausage to stuff, keep stuffing large coils until you're done. To form links, take a coil and pinch off two links about 15 cm long -- the first link is the end of the coil, the second one up from the end. Roll this link away from you a couple times. Tie off the end of the coil. Now move down the coil and pinch off another link. Roll this link towards you a few times. Move all the way down the coil until you get to the end. Tie off that last link. Repeat with other coils.
• Gently compress each link looking for air pockets. Use a needle or sausage pricker to pop any air pockets. Gently compress the links to fill that gap. This takes finesse not to burst the casing. When all you links are ready, hang them to dry. At room temperature, hang an hour or two. Ideally, you'll hang links between 0 -4 degrees C overnight. Alternatively, leave them uncovered in the fridge overnight before eating or freezing.

SPICY ITALIAN SAUSAGE PASTA

Steps:

• In a skillet over medium heat, combine the olive oil, fennel seeds, and chili flakes and cook until the fennel seeds start to snap and pop.
• The onion, half of it finely diced and the other half frenched, should be added to the skillet at this point and sauteed until translucent. (OPTIONAL: If you were to add any green bell pepper, it should be when the onion goes in, and it should be diced.) Add the minced garlic and continue for 1-2 minutes until the garlic starts to lightly brown on the edges.
• Add the spicy Italian sausage in small bits about the size of half a walnut and saute until brown.
• Add the diced roasted red pepper, tomato, marjoram, and basil. Toss with the rest of the ingredients and season with the salt and black pepper.
• Stir in the tomato paste and cook it for 2-5 minutes, until it coats everything and smells sweet; perhaps a bit smokey. Be careful, however, not to burn the tomato paste.
• Pour in the chicken broth and stir to dissolve the tomato paste. Taste and re-season with salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered until the liquid thickens.
• Add the cooked egg noodles and toss the sauce throughout.
• Serve family style on a platter with the parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

ITALIAN "DRUNKEN" NOODLES WITH SPICY ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• -Place a large, heavy-bottom pan or braising pot over medium-high heat; add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and once the oil is hot, crumble the spicy Italian sausage into the pan in small chunks (you want to keep the sausage fairly chunky), allowing it to brown in the oil for a few moments on each side; once the crumbled sausage is browned, remove it from the pan/pot with a slotted spoon and place into a small bowl to hold for a moment; next, add the sliced onion into the pan with the sausage drippings, and allow it to caramelize and become golden for roughly 5 minutes or so, stirring to keep it from burning (add a touch more olive oil, if necessary); once the onion starts to become golden, add the salt, Italian seasoning and cracked black pepper, and stir to combine, then add in the sliced bell peppers, and allow those to saute with the onion for about 2 minutes until slightly tender and golden; next, add in the garlic, and once it becomes aromatic, add in the white wine and allow it to reduce for a few moments, until almost completely reduced; next, add in the diced tomatoes with their juice, and return the browned spicy Italian sausage back into the pan, and gently fold the mixture to combine; allow it to gently simmer for about 3-4 minutes to blend the flavors, then turn the heat off; to finish the sauce, drizzle in about 2-3 good tablespoons of the olive oil to create a silky, rich flavor, and add in the chopped parsley and about half of the julienned basil; stir, and keep warm while you prepare the noodles.
• -Prepare the pappardelle noodles according to instructions on package; then, drain the noodles very well, and add them directly into the sauce, using tongs to gently toss and combine the pappardelle noodles with the sauce and all of the ingredients in it; check the seasoning to see if you need to add any additional salt or pepper.
• -To serve, add equal portions of the "Drunken" noodles to bowls, and garnish with a sprinkle of the remaining julienned basil; you can even top with shaved Parmesan, if desired, and an extra drizzle of olive oil.

HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Place the ground pork into a large bowl. Season with salt, garlic salt, black pepper and paprika. In a blender or food processor, blend together the oil, anise seed, fennel seed and red pepper flakes. Mix everything into the ground pork until well blended. Refrigerate for 24 hours to let flavors blend. Bag and freeze in portions that suit your needs.

SPICY ITALIAN SAUSAGE SANDWICHES

Steps:

• In a large skillet, cook sausages over medium heat until no longer pink. Meanwhile, in another large skillet, saute peppers and onion in oil. Drain sausages; place a sausage in each bun. Top each with about 1/3 cup pepper mixture. Refrigerate remaining sausages.

MUSSELS WITH SPICY ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Place the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the shallots and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the shallots are translucent but still have a bit of crunch, about 3 minutes.
• Add the sausage to the pan and cook, stirring to crumble it, for 5 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. Add the wine and rosemary and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium, add the mussels, cover the pan, and steam until the mussels open, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle the parsley and bread crumbs over all. Divide the mussels among six bowls and ladle the broth and sausage over them. Serve with crusty bread.