Baked Sausages with Savory Onion

Back to work Monday!! 

Oh, wait. I'm on vacation!!! 

A staff meeting at So What Are You Making For Dinner & Friday Night Baking was held. In-person. No Zoom. Not sure the cats could figure out how to unmute and turn their cameras on. We worked on the 2020 Best of List.

Next, we had a social distancing outdoors visit with my nephew, his wife, and his children. I am so over 2020. I want to sit at a table inside and talk and laugh with my family. That's all. Maybe next year.

Dinner. We cracked open a new cookbook. Cooking Italian with the Cake Boss. I have been a fan of Buddy Valastro since his show first went on the air. Chris got me his baking pan set one Christmas, it is the best I have used. I have another of his cookbooks and I ordered the Rainbow Cake from his shop on Goldbelly for Chris's birthday. He had an awful accident this fall. His hand, right hand, was pierced with a piece of metal. There is a show on TLC, The Road to Recovery, that documents the accident. Pretty graphic but you see his determination to get back to work.

Dinner. I tried the recipe for Baked Sausages with Savory Onions.

This is a perfect winter meal. It was quite filling. We made 1/2 the recipe and still had some leftover. The flavors were smooth and the aroma was over the top!

Ingredients-

6 fat links sweet Italian sausage with fennel, approximately 2 pounds

1 bulb fennel, trimmed, halved, cored, cut lengthwise in thin slices

2 medium Spanish onions, halved, cut lengthwise in thin slices

Olive oil

4‑6 sprigs fresh thyme

1‑1/4 cup rich (unsalted) chicken stock

3/4 cup Italian white wine, I used Sauvignon Blanc

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

Black pepper

Method-

Preheat oven to 400°.

Prick each sausage several times to prevent bursting.

Heat a Dutch oven large enough to accommodate the sausages in one layer over medium.

Add sausages and brown on both sides – no need to cook through.

Remove to a plate.

Add another tablespoon of oil and add the fennel, onions, garlic, thyme, and salt.

Reduce heat and sauté, slowly, until soft, translucent, and taking on color -- 10-15 minutes. Add the brown sugar and stir for 30 seconds.

Add the stock and wine.

Bring to a boil and let reduce by half.

Put sausages back into the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the sauasage from the pot and platter sausages.

Swirl mustard into the onions, check salt, correct, and add grindings of black pepper.

Pour onions over sausages.

Garnish with sprigs fresh thyme, if desired.

 

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Roasted Rib Eyes with Horseradish Butter, Sesame Green Beans and Twice Baked Potatoes

And how do you say Happy Valentine's Day? Chris called on his way home from work and asked what we were having for dinner. When I rattled off the menu he said he would be right home! For Christmas one of the cookbooks Chris gave me was Family Celebration with the Cake Boss. There are a lot of recipes that I have put sticky notes on. I started with these three. They were all easy, not too much stress on the hand except for the Twice Baked Potatoes. I did have a little trouble mashing the potatoes, ouch!

And it would not be Valentine's Day without pictures of my two little Valentines..

Super Bowl Wrap-Up

What a great game! Yes one of us is a Giants fan.

And if it is Super Bowl Sunday then it means we are having ribs. I made my usual recipe from Epicurious.com.

The Roasted Asparagus is from the Cake Boss and the potatoes are from... I guess my mom because this is how she made them.

Slice the potatoes into thin wedges. Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary. Roast in oven for about 45 minutes, turning once.

I almost forgot about the appetizer. We had the usual chips and salsa but I also made my mom's Friselle recipe. I cut her recipe in half because it seems like when she and I would make them we would go on for hours! They are tasty. You can not eat just one... plus they are too small to eat just one!

Frezels

3 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup of oil

2 tbsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp salt

1 cup cold water

Mix all the ingredients. Roll into long strips and cut into small slices. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees 10 minutes on lower shelf and 10 minutes on upper shelf.

Now on to tonight... And tonight's dinner... leftover ribs and some Beef Barley Soup I had in the freezer. We used the Frezels as little crackers in the soup!