During those warm months of summer there is no better way to enjoy food than on the barbeque. Often times sausage is seen as a one trick pony, something that can only be barbequed during the summer or occasionally during the winter for those die hard fans of the grill. When customers come into my store they are always asking us how they can use our sausages in ways other than throwing them on the barbeque..
Over the years we here at Bella Roma Foods have experimented with lots of ways to use our store made sausage in non-traditional ways. Check out some of our favourite ways to use up sausage in recipes when you don’t want to be a traditionalist:
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Pizza crumble:
- Seems simple but sometimes we forget that we don’t have to go out and buy pizza crumbles and toppings when you can use what’s in your fridge or freezer to make that gourmet pizza. At Bella Roma Foods we love to take our Sicilian sausage meat out of the casing, flatten it on to a baking sheet and cook it in a 425F convection oven until the internal temperature is 160F. Then, use your hands or a knife to break the sheet of baked sausage meat down into bite size pieces to top your pizza with.
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Chili:
- Add a bit of zing to your chili but taking the meat out of a Hot Italian sausage and blending it in with your beef and cook as per usual.
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Stuffed pork roast
- Use a sharp knife to horizontally slice 80% of the way through the middle of your piece of pork loin to open it up like a book. Squeeze the meat from the sausage casing and place along the bottom side of the opened pork loin. Bring the top piece of the pork loin back on top of the bottom piece to close the “book” up. Use butchers twine to tie the roast to ensure the filling stays inside and that the roast stays together. Season the outside of the roast to your liking, sear in a hot pan then finish in the oven.
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Pasta Sauce:
- Sausage can be used in a few ways in a pasta sauce. Like we did with the chili, the meat can be removed from the sausage casing and blended in with your ground beef then worked into the spaghetti sauce. Another option is to use the meat from the sausage to form meatballs which can be baked then tossed in with your pasta sauce. Finally, the sausage can be sliced (to get the perfect sliced sausage when it is raw, place the sausage in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm it up then use a sharp knife to cut it) and stirred into the sauce.
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Nacho topping:
- When it comes to any big sporting event nachos are a staple on the menu for the day. Like you would do with the pizza crumble, take sausage meat out of the casing, flatten it on to a baking sheet and cook it in a 425F convection oven until the internal temperature is 160F. Then, use your hands or a knife to break the sheet of baked sausage meat down into bite size pieces and place on top your nachos before firing them in the oven. To add some real spice and smokiness to the dish try using an andouille sausage.
Remember when it comes to cooking there are no rules. Using ingredients in non-traditional applications is a great way to make ingredients in your pantry, fridge and/or freezer go further. You may also find that you can eliminate food waste by repurposing ingredients in unique ways.
(A shot of a flatbread pizza featuring our Sicilian Extra Spicy Sausage as a pizza crumble)