Christmas is under a week away and according to many folks in the food world, Italian food and Christmas have a very strong connection. All over the web are articles about the Feast of the Seven Fishes, and Savuer's December issue is entitled Italian Christmas. In that spirit, this week on Herbie Likes Spaghetti we're bringing you Italian Christmas dishes all week long, so make sure to subscribe to the blog or follow us on Twitter so you don't miss one!
Today's Italian Christmas installment is a take on the traditional sausages and peppers platter. Instead of peppers, we were inspired by Lidia Bastianich and decided to swap in fennel and olives. It takes about 20 minutes of cooking to get the fennel nice and soft, but when you do, oh boy is it tasty. This is a great plate that's pretty simple to make up and can fill out your Italian Christmas feast nicely. Enjoy!
Making the Dish
 |
| Cooking the sausage |
Get started by cooking the sausages over medium heat in a large sauté pan with a touch of olive oil. Cook them until they are nicely browned on each side. When they've browned nicely, add a cup of white wine and cook until the wine is reduced by about half. This will give the sausages a nice flavor, and the wine reduction will be used later.
 |
| Pitted olives and smashed garlic |
While the sausages are cooking, prepare your veggies. Core the fennel and remove the fronts, and chop the bulb into large chunks. Pit the olives, and cut lengthwise.
 |
| Chopped fennel |
Remove the sausages and the wine reduction from the pan and let rest on the serving platter. In the pan, add in some more olive oil and bring to heat. Take 4 - 6 whole cloves of garlic, peel them, and smash them with the flat of a knife. Then add the smashed garlic to the olive oil and cook briefly until it starts to soften.
 |
| Sautéing the olives with the garlic and crushed red pepper |
Add to the olive oil and garlic a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, and then add in about a cup's worth of pitted cerignola olives. We used green, as it seemed to be more aesthetically pleasing, but you could use any other kind you're interested in.
 |
| Pepper, seconds before jumping onto Bryan's back |
Cook these all together for a bit so that the flavors mix together, and then add in the fennel. Toss everything around until the fennel is nicely covered with oil, toss in some salt and pepper, and then let cook over medium heat, covered, for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may need to add water if the bottom of the pan starts to get crusty. When the fennel is nicely caramelized and soft, you're ready to go.
 |
| Sautéing the fennel with the olives and garlic |
Add in the sausage to the pan and the wine reduction and toss everything together over medium high heat, until all the veggies and sausage get a nice caramelization and the flavors start to blend.
 |
| Mixing in the sausages to the sautéed fennel |
When everything is cooked through, serve on a platter nice and hot, and dig in!
The Result
The treatment that the fennel gets really pays off, and combining it with the olives and garlic cloves rounds out the flavor. The smaller bits of fennel end up nearly dissolving into a mush of smaller dissolved olives and garlic, creating a great underlying flavor. The sausage is of course the standout, and pairs with the fennel wonderfully.
We served this with a nice baguette, and were quite satisfied with the dish. It's a touch time consuming but not at all difficult, and will be easy to do again and again!
Click through for the full ingredients list!
Sausages with Green Olives and Fennel
Written by: Herbie Likes Spaghetti with Inspiration from Lidia Bastianich
A new take on the traditional Italian sausage and peppers
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
(Serves: 2 - 4)
1 lb sweet Italian sausage
2 - 3 bulbs fennel
1 cup green cerignola olives
6 smashed cloves garlic
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Yummmmm...... always like your style ;))
ReplyDelete