Sausage with Fennel and Olives

We have not made this recipe in a while. The recipe is from Lidia's Favorite Recipes. 

I prepared the dish yesterday, so Chris just popped it in the oven to reheat tonight. One dish! Easy cleanup for a Monday night!

Somebody even went back for seconds, so I would say it was a tasty dinner. Personally, I love the flavor of the cooked fennel and the olives add just the right bit of salt. 

Ingredients-
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 sweet Italian sausages (about 2 pounds)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3/4 cup large green olives, squashed and pitted
1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method -
Pour half of the olive oil into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausages; cook, turning occasionally until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes or more. Carefully add wine and bring to a boil; cook until reduced by half. Transfer sausages to a platter; pour the cooking liquid over the sausage.

Add remaining olive oil to skillet over medium heat. Add the crushed red pepper in it for a couple of seconds. Add olives; toss and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add fennel chunks and stir to combine. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, cover skillet, and cook over medium-high heat for 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the fennel softens, and begins to color. Add a little water to the pan if the fennel remains hard; you want it to be wilted but not mushy.

When the fennel is cooked through, return sausages and wine to skillet. Toss together with fennel and cook, uncovered for about 5 minutes. Adjust the season to taste.

Salsicce con Finocchio e Olive

 

Tonight's recipe for dinner was from this week's featured cookbook, Lidia's Favorite Recipes. I had purchased a fennel bulb a while back that I did not use all of it. I did not want to waste it so I froze it following these instructions (click here). That cut down on the cooking time.

This dish is delicious. The saltiness of the olives and the flavor of the fennel a perfect together.

Salsicce con Finocchio e Olive, Sausage with Fennel and Olives, from Lidia's Favorite Recipes.

Ingredients -
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
12 sweet Italian sausages (about 2 pounds)
1 cup dry white wine
6 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup large green olives, squashed and pitted
3 large fennel bulbs (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method -
Pour half of the olive oil into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausages; cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes or more. Carefully add wine and bring to a boil; cook until reduced by half. Transfer sausages to a platter; pour over cooking liquid.

Add remaining olive oil to skillet over medium heat. Add garlic cook about 1 minute. Clear a hot spot and cook the crushed red pepper in it for a couple of seconds. Add olives; toss and cook for a couple of minutes.

Add fennel chunks and stir to combine. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt, cover skillet, and cook over medium high heat for 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the fennel softens, and begins to color. Add a little water to the pan if fennel remains hard; you want it to be wilted but not mushy.

When the fennel is cooked through, return sausages and wine to skillet. Toss together with fennel and cook, uncovered for about 5 minutes. Adjust the season to taste.