homemade breakfast sausage

homemade breakfast sausage

Food confession: We are a 'breakfast meat' loving family.  Sausage links? Love 'em.  Canadian Bacon? Delish.  Bacon?  Worship.  Breakfast meats have a reoccurring role in weekend breakfasts but tonight they made an appearance in a little bit of kitchen theatre I like to call - 'Breakfast for Dinner'.  This tradition is often something I announce after a long day or maybe on a 'yes' day. (Shout out to Joy Kight in OH for introducing the Stumps to the glory and wonder of a good 'yes' day.)

'Breakfast for Dinner' - Always a hit!

'Breakfast for Dinner' always generates a lot of enthusiasm and often a few helping hands in the kitchen.  To round out strawberry smoothies, eggs and english muffins, I was scrambling for the oh, so important breakfast meat and found some ground pork defrosting in the fridge. (Thank you, Wooden Crate, for hooking us up with this local farm!)  Now, I've been wanting to try my own homemade sausage ever since my first breakfast at the Paramount on Beacon Hill.  If you're from Boston you'll know the Paramount. (If not - drag your favorite breakfast lover down to Charles Street and make plans to eat there soon!) Their turkey sausage is out of this world - and the prep is a little bit of food theatre in itself.

My men loved this recipe!  It was a big hit tonight and the four leftover patties are now in my freezer for a quick warm up in the microwave to tuck into breakfast sandwiches. This recipe is my own but you can find inspiration on the internet, too.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients:
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 t fennel seed, crushed
(I used a knife to chop and mash; you could use a spice grinder.)
1 t paprika (sweet not smoked)
Dash of freshly ground nutmeg (or a pinch of nutmeg from a jar)
1 heaping t herbs de provence
(You could use italian seasoning, red pepper flakes for heat, or dried sage and thyme)
1 t black pepper, freshly ground
1 heaping t kosher salt
1 lb ground meat
(I used pork, turkey would be lovely, too.)
2 t vinegar
(I used apple cider, you could omit or use red wine vinegar, etc.)
1 egg white

Directions:

1. I combined all the dry spices in a bowl with a fork. (garlic - salt)

2.  Then I used my hands to incorporate all the spices with the pork, vinegar and egg white.  Refrigerate at least 15 minutes.  I imagine you could do this the night before and let the flavors meld.

3.  Put the meat mixture on a dish-washer safe cutting board.  I scored my into 8 sections.  Use your (impeccably clean) hands to make each section into a 2"+ patty.  To keep them uniform, I ended up with 10 patties.

4.  Coat a heated frying pan (I used cast iron.) with 2 t of canola or vegetable oil.  Cook each patty for 4 minutes per side.  I drain on paper towels to absorb any residual grease.

5. Voila!  Jeff likes to tuck his into an english muffin with eggs.  Tasty!

leftovers like these are like
money in the bank!

herb paste + turkey tenderloin

Juicy, tender and oh, so flavorful!

For the first time in many days, we are all gathered here for supper and I want a cozy, comforting meal.  We're going to have an herbed turkey tenderloin, adapting a recipe from Ina Garten's book, How Easy Is That? I have many Barefoot Contessa cookbooks in our home library but I've made more recipes from this title than any other.  If you don't own it - peruse it the next time you are at your local bookstore.

In the original recipe, she calls for a turkey breast and we've made it that way before.  It is a wonderful weeknight meal and yields leftovers for classic turkey curtain calls - sandwiches, noodle soup, etc.  But tonight we'll roast two tenderloins and serve them with a pear salad, corn saute and biscuits.  To see Barefoot Contessa's original recipe, click on the link at the recipe title below.  Ina's mixture (essentially, I double it) makes this so special - my kids devour it!


Ina's Herb Paste + Turkey Tenderloins
adapted from Ina Garten's Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast


Ingredients:
6 cloves of garlic
3 (6" or so in length) stems of rosemary
3 (4" or so in length) stems of sage
4 (4" or so in length) stems of thyme
1 1/2 T dry mustard
2 t kosher salt
1 t freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c evoo

2 turkey-tenderloins, approximately 1 lb each

2 tenderloins,
rubbed with paste &
left to absorb flavor

Tips:
- Tailor the garlic to your crowd - feel free to use fewer cloves if your group doesn't love it like we do!
-You can do the chopping by hand rather than the food processor. Just do a rough mince and combine in a bowl to make the paste.
- I think this paste would be wonderful on fish, chicken or pork as well.

Directions:

1.  Put the garlic into the bowl of your small food processor.

2.  Pick the leaves from the stems of all three herbs and add to the processor with the dry mustard, salt and pepper. Blitz and drizzle in the juice and evoo.  You may have to scrape down the sides to get a uniform paste

3. I made this in the morning and rubbed it on the tenderloins an hour or so in advance.

4. This would be great on the grill but tonight we're using our oven.  We roasted 2 tenderloins, approximately 1 lb each, at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  Recommended internal temperature for turkey is 160 degrees; we pull it out at 155 and let it finish cooking while it rests.  10 minutes later we slice and serve!