Italian Sausage.- A classic that can be used in so many ways and always good!

 

Italian Sausage.- A true classic, we love it and I make it at home anytime I'm making Lasagna, Meatballs, Pizza and when I get some casings it gets made into sausage!! You can make Patties for breakfast or as a side dish, crumble it and add it to casseroles like Baked Ziti or? you name it it's always great!

It's a very easy preparations, few ingredients and should take you about 15 minutes to make, here is what you need to get it done:

1 K Ground Pork, not lean you need the fat

3 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 - 3 tsp kosher salt

3 - 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and pressed, grated or mashed

1 1/2 Tbl Fennel Seed, whole, medium ground

1 - 2 Tbl White Wine

Feel free to add, increase or decrease any of the quantities shown here, we like a full flavored sausage meat so I tend to go a little hard with the spices, but there is a very simple way to check so you are sure of the flavor in your sausage, it's called a "test piece". So add all your ingredients together and mix really well, get a small frypan with a little oil over med heat and once it's hot, make a tiny little flat pattie of your sausage mix, cook it well, allow it to cool a little and see if you like it. This way you can be sure you will love it.

This mixture can be frozen but make sure you freeze in the most practical way you can. I will be using some of it on a Pan Pizza but also love it in my Italian Sauce which I use in Lasagna, or I crumble it to use in Baked Ziti or other pasta dishes, you can make meatballs, or add to stuffing or how about making some shish kebobs, or how about some sausage and gravy, if you get some natural casings you can stuff them and have sausage the old fashioned way, it's very versatile.  So I put it in a smaller glass bowl, I'll use it tomorrow and whatever is left I'll decide how to freeze it (if we don't eat it all up that is).... 

I have other sausage recipes on this blog so you can go ahead and search for "sausage" and see which one you like best, this recipe is the most basic and the simplest of all and can be done in no time....

I hope you will try this simple but very satisfying recipe. Enjoy!