Polish Sausage Sandwhich

Did you forget to take out something for dinner this morning?!  I often forget to take out meat and put it in the fridge before heading off to work...this is why I always have some sort of sausage in the freezer.  Sausage is the only meat that takes no time at all to thaw on its own or even throw into the microwave for a minute to thaw.  Shhhhh it's my trick in the kitchen once in a great moon.  Well, I had some polish sausage, sauerkraut and rolls, so I called it a night!

1 small package of sauerkraut

2 links of polish sausage

1/2 small apple; thinly sliced

1/2 small onion; thinly sliced

salt and pepper

spicy brown mustard

Preheat oven to 350.

In a skillet, add onion and apple.  Saute for about 5 minutes on medium heat until they are softened.  Add kraut and heat through.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Can also add fennel seed or mustard to flavor.  After 5 minutes add sausage to brown on both sides.

In a small baking dish add kraut mixture and top with sausages.  Bake for 1 hour.

Slice soft rolls in half, add your favorite spicy mustard and stuff with kraut mixture and sausage and enjoy!

Ricotta, Spinach and Sausage Pizza

1 pizza dough

2 cups part skim ricotta cheese

2 large cloves garlic; minced

salt and pepper

TB parsley; chopped

1 bag baby spinach

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1-2 links of hot italian sausage

olive oil

fresh mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a saute pan, cook sausage links, remove and slice into bite size pieces.  To the same pan Add 1-2 TB olive olive oil with garlic.  Add spinach and salt and pepper to taste. 

Roll out dough on a pizza pan.  In a bowl, add ricotta, spinach, parmesan cheese, parsley and salt and pepper.  Spread mixture over dough.  Add sliced sausage pieces.  Top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 25 minutes or until browned and bubbly! Enjoy!

Sausage and Kale Over Pasta With a White Wine Cream Sauce

1 1/2 cups Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage Crumbles

1/2 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes

1 bunch of Kale

2-3 large cloves of garlic; minced

2 TB olive oil

salt and pepper

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream

your favorite pasta

Boil Water; cook pasta simultaneously.  

In a saute pan cook sausage.  When cooked through, place in bowl.  Add garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Add Kale and chicken broth.  Add Kale and salt and pepper as it cooks and withers down.  When all the Kale is in pan and cooked down, add sun dried tomatoes and sausage.  Toss together.  Add white wine and stir.  Add heavy cream.  

Toss with pasta.  To with fresh parmesan cheese.  Enjoy :)

Pizza with Zucchini and Sausage

Ok, maybe another zucchini recipe or two....then I won't be cooking with it for at least a month! AH!  This was a spur of the moment Wednesday night meal that turned out fabulous, flavorful and different...a great combination all in 30 minutes :)

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

 Pizza Dough..on the go!

3 cups flour

1 tsp. sugar

1 packet yeast

1 cup warm water

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

Mix Ingredients and knead for a minute or two in mixer.  Brush olive oil on pizza pan and roll out dough.

After

Before

Bake dough for 6-8 minutes.

Pizza:

tomato pesto sauce (I cheated, shh)  oh how I love Wegmans!

1 small zucchini; sliced thinly

3 links of Hot Italian Sausage; cooked through and sliced

mozzarella and provolone cheese

Top with tomato pesto sauce, zucchini, Italian sausage and cheese.  Bake for another 15 minutes, or until cheese is browned and bubbly.

ENJOY!

Rigatoni with Sausage and Asparagus

This is a simple, delicious dish that is great for a family get together!

4 links of hot Italian sausage (I used turkey sausage) 

1 pound of asparagus – cut into 1” length

3 fresh tomatoes - cut into 1/2" cubes

1/2 spanish onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic - chopped

1/4 tsp of hot pepper flakes

1/4 tsp of basil

1/4 tsp of parsley

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup dry red wine

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup freshly grated ricotta salata

Boil water.

Saute onion, garlic, hot pepper flakes, basil and parsley,

Add sausage (out of casing).  Break up into small pieces.  Once cooked through, add tomatoes.

Add rigatoni to water and add cream and red wine to saute pan.  Simmer on low- medium heat until thickened.  About 10-15 minutes.

Add asparagus and heat through.

Next, Add rigatoni to sauce.

Plate rigatoni and sprinkle fresh ricotta salata on top of dish.  ENJOY :)

Pasta with Sausage and Fennel

A year or so ago, my mom and I went to the New York Wine and Culinary Center in Canandaigua, NY.  We attended the "Summer in Italy" cooking class and had a blast cooking and eating all evening.  Everyone was assigned to creating two meals, one was this dish, Ear pasta with Sausage and Fennel (Orecchiette con Salsicce e finocchio). It turned out to be one of the best dishes of the night, just saying!

Olive oil
1/2 chopped medium onion
1 fennel bulb trimmed and sliced
2 cloves of garlic
10 ounces sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings (I used medium turkey sausage this time and came out perfect)
basil leaves
1/2 TB oregano
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup cream
1 lb Orecchiette pasta
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan to taste

Heat a medium sate pan over medium heat. Saute the onion and fennel until they are soft.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.  Add the sausage and saute until sausage is fully cooked.  Add the basil, oregano, broth and wine.  Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the flavors blend.  Add the cream and continue to simmer for 5 minutes.  Cook the Orecchiette in salted water until al dente and drain but do not rinse.  Add pasta to the sausage sauce and toss to coat and serve.  Enjoy with a little grated Parmesan cheese :)

Sausage Egg Scramble

My first post of my blog I talked about how my husband was the breakfast guru.  Here is one of his yummy breakfast specials.  I can not scramble eggs to save my life.  Probably because breakfast was always my least favorite meal.  Like mother, like daughter...  Now, I do enjoy breakfast, but still am not as good as cooking it as the husband!

Egg Scramble!  

3 eggs

breakfast sausages (we usually use the turkey sausage)

onions

peppers

cheddar cheese