Italian Sausage Sweet Recipes

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.

HOMEMADE SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE (MILD OR HOT)

Steps:

• Place the pork and red wine vinegar in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with salt, black pepper, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, paprika, red pepper flakes, fennel seed, brown sugar, oregano, and thyme. Knead until flecks of spice are evenly distributed through the sausage.
• Divide the sausage into thirds, and form into 3 logs; wrap each in plastic wrap. Place wrapped sausage into a freezer bag before freezing, or store in refrigerator for at least 12 hours before cooking.

SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE WITH PENNE PASTA

Steps:

• Boil the water and cook the penne according to package directions. DO NOT ever add oil to the water! It will make your sauce slide off the pasta later.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil (medium-high heat) in a large skillet and saute the broccoli, sausage and garlic until tender and starting to brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Toss the butter, hot pasta, sausage mixture and romano cheese together and serve. Pass the grated cheese at the table.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE, PEPPERS, AND ONIONS

Steps:

• Place the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, and brown on all sides. Remove from skillet, and slice.
• Melt butter in the skillet. Stir in the yellow onion, red onion, and garlic, and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Mix in red bell pepper and green bell pepper. Season with basil, and oregano. Stir in white wine. Continue to cook and stir until peppers and onions are tender.
• Return sausage slices to skillet with the vegetables. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, or until sausage is heated through.

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.

SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Place all the ingredients except the salt in a large bowl, and knead with your hands until thoroughly blended. Cook and taste a small sample, then add the salt if needed. Leave in bulk and shape as directed in individual recipes or stuff into hog casing. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, or preferably overnight, to allow the flavors to blend.
• Sauté or grill, or cook as directed in individual recipes. (The uncooked sausage will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 week.)

SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Put olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium-low heat.
• Add the sausage meat and cook for 10 minutes, breaking up the meat with a spoon.
• Remove to a bowl with a slotted spoon; reserve.
• To the same pot, add the eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, onion and garlic.
• Stirring occasionally, cook until softened, about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Stir in the reserved sausage, the tomatoes, parsley, basil and cayenne.
• Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Spoon the mixture into an 8 by 9-inch, oven-to-table baking dish to fit and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in a 350°F preheated oven until the cheese melts, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Makes 4 servings.
• That's it!

SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND POTATOES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut the sausage, potatoes, and bell pepper in to large chunks. Place in a large bowl.
• Pour in the onion soup mix and olive oil, and toss until all ingredients are coated.
• Transfer to a large roasting pan and bake for 2-3 hours, making sure to mix it every half hour. The sausage and potatoes will have a nice deep brown color when done.