Tag Archives: Italian sausage

Caramelized Onion and Italian Sausage Soup

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soup

by Karen Frazier

I know, I know. More soup. It’s the first day of fall, so a nice, warming soup is perfect for your dinner.

One of the reasons I like soups and stews so much is that they really provide an opportunity to build flavor, which gives them a complex, rich taste. In the case of this soup, the complex flavors come from taking the time to brown your meat and caramelize your onions, which adds a deep savory richness to the soup. This soup is pretty easy and hands-off, so while it takes a bit of time to come together, it isn’t terribly labor-intensive.

Caramelized Onion and Italian Sausage Soup

  • 2 tablespoons duck fat, lard, or your favorite fat
  • 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
  • 3 onions, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup dry sherry
  • 6 cups homemade beef bone broth
  • 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  1. In a large pot, heat the fat on medium-high until it shimmers.
  2. Add the Italian sausage and cook, crumbling as you cook, until it is browned, about five minutes.
  3. Remove the sausage from the fat with a slotted spoon and set it aside on a platter.
  4. Reduce the heat to low. Add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes, until the onions are caramelized.
  5. Return the heat to medium-high. Add the sherry, using the side of a wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
  6. Add the bone broth, mushrooms, salt, pepper, and reserved Italian sausage. Bring to a simmer. Simmer until the mushrooms soften, five to ten minutes.

I like mine drizzled with a little bit of truffle oil.

photo credit: photopin (license)

Mushroom Soup with Italian Sausage and Fennel

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mushroom soupby Karen Frazier

Tendergrass farms makes a tasty grass-fed, sugar-free Italian sausage. I really like it, and so I enjoy using it in soups, spaghetti sauce (with zucchini spaghetti of course), and other recipes. In the fall when delicious mushrooms are so abundant, I especially enjoy mushroom dishes, which is why you’re seeing so many of them in my recipe feed lately.

This soup is delicious and hearty. It really hits the spot on a cold fall evening. I use my typical thickening method…pureeing the vegetables and adding them back into the broth, because it works so well.

Mushroom Soup with Italian Sausage and Fennel

  • 1 bulb organic garlic, the top sliced off
  • 2 tablespoons melted fat (lard, duck fat, etc.)
  • Sprinkling of sea salt
  • Sprinkling of organic chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 package organic dried porcini mushrooms
  • 6 cups homemade beef or chicken bone broth
  • 3 tablespoons melted fat (I use duck fat)
  • 1 pound sugar-free, organic pastured pork Italian sausage, casings removed
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 pound seasonal organic mushrooms (can be any variety), sliced
  • 1 bulb organic fennel, chopped
  • 1/4 cup dry sherry (or more broth)
  • 1 teaspoon organic dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper.
  • Two tablespoons chopped organic fennel fronds
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the cut garlic heads on a large piece of foil. Drizzle them with two tablespoons of the melted fat and sprinkle them with salt and rosemary. Wrap them in the foil. Roast the garlic in the preheated oven for about 90 minutes, until soft. Allow it to cool slightly, and then squeeze the cloves out of the papery skin and into a bowl. Set aside.
  2. In a large saucepan, heat the bone broth until it simmers. Remove the broth from the heat and add the dried porcini mushrooms. Cover and allow the mushrooms to soak until they are soft, about two hours.
  3. In a large dutch oven, heat three tablespoons of fat over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the Italian sausage and cook, breaking the sausage apart with a spoon, until it is browned, five to seven minutes. Remove the sausage from the fat with a slotted spoon and set aside on a platter.
  4. Add the onion to the fat in the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it softens and begins to brown, five to seven minutes. Remove the onions from the fat with a slotted spoon and set it aside in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade.
  5. If needed, add a little more fat to the pan. Over medium-high heat, cook the mushrooms in the fat, stirring occasionally, until they soften, seven to ten minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the fat with a slotted spoon. Put half of the mushrooms into the food processor with the onions and put the remaining half on the platter with the Italian sausage.
  6. Add the fennel to the remaining fat in the pan (or add a bit more if necessary). Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is soft, five to seven minutes.
  7. Add the red wine to the pot. Using the side of your spoon, scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
  8. Use a slotted spoon to remove the reconstituted porcini mushrooms from the stock and put them in the food processor with the other vegetables. Pour the stock into the cooking pot.
  9. Add the cooked sausage and mushrooms from the platter, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to the pot. Reduce the heat to medium-low and allow it to simmer.
  10. Meanwhile, add the roasted garlic to the food processor with the mushrooms and onions. Process until the vegetables form a smooth paste, 30 seconds to one minute.
  11. Stir the vegetables back into the pot of soup to thicken it.
  12. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the soup warms through, about five more minutes. Adjust seasoning as necessary.
  13. Serve garnished with fennel fronds.

For an easier to make but still paleo version, but with a slightly higher carb count (about 12 g per serving versus about 7 g per serving):

  • 1 package organic dried porcini mushrooms
  • 6 cups homemade beef or chicken bone broth
  • 3 tablespoons melted fat (I use duck fat)
  • 1 pound sugar-free, organic pastured pork Italian sausage, casings removed
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 pound seasonal organic mushrooms (can be any variety), sliced
  • 1 bulb organic fennel, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup dry sherry (or more broth)
  • 1 teaspoon organic dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper.
  • 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Two tablespoons chopped organic fennel fronds
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the cut garlic heads on a large piece of foil. Drizzle them with two tablespoons of the melted fat and sprinkle them with salt and rosemary. Wrap them in the foil. Roast the garlic in the preheated oven for about 90 minutes, until soft. Allow it to cool slightly, and then squeeze the cloves out of the papery skin and into a bowl. Set aside.
  2. In a large saucepan, heat the bone broth until it simmers. Remove the broth from the heat and add the dried porcini mushrooms. Cover and allow the mushrooms to soak until they are soft, about two hours. Remove the mushrooms from the broth and chop them roughly. Return them to the broth.
  3. In a large dutch oven, heat three tablespoons of fat over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the Italian sausage and cook, breaking the sausage apart with a spoon, until it is browned, five to seven minutes. Remove the sausage from the fat with a slotted spoon and set aside on a platter.
  4. Add the onion to the fat in the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it softens and begins to brown, five to seven minutes. Remove the onions from the fat with a slotted spoon and set it aside with the sausage.
  5. If needed, add a little more fat to the pan. Over medium-high heat, cook the mushrooms in the fat, stirring occasionally, until they soften and brown, seven to ten minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the fat with a slotted spoon. Set them aside with the sausage.
  6. Add the fennel to the remaining fat in the pan (or add a bit more if necessary). Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is soft, five to seven minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until it is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  7. Add the sherry to the pot. Using the side of your spoon, scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
  8. Pour the stock into the cooking pot. Add the cooked sausage, mushrooms, and onions back to the pot along with the thyme, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
  9. Reduce the heat to medium-low and allow it to simmer.
  10. In a small bowl, whisk together the arrowroot powder and water. Pour them into the simmering pot, stirring constantly, until the soup thickens slightly.
  11. Adjust seasoning as necessary.
  12. Serve garnished with fennel fronds.

photo credit: RonjaNilsson via photopin cc

Italian Burgers

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burgerThe three day weekends that sandwich summer in the United States send Americans to the grill in large numbers. One of the most common foods for summer grilling is the humble hamburger. Basic burgers are pretty simple. Shape some ground beef into a patty, add a little seasoning, and grill away.

I enjoy a good, basic hamburger as much as the next guy, but sometimes I want something just a little different. Our local farmer’s market offers up grass fed beef hamburger with a little something extra. They grind beef and bacon into the same batch of meat, so you don’t have to grill the bacon and put it on top. It’s right in the burger! You can find this little bit of sheer genius at the farmer’s market in Olympia, Washington, or you can ask your butcher to give it a try. Ask them to grind sirloin and bacon at a ratio of 75%:25%. It’s pretty tasty stuff, and grills up juicy and delicious. If you happen to be in possession of your own meat grinder (don’t laugh. Kitchen Aids have meat grinding attachments), then you can even do it yourself.

My favorite burger, however, is a departure from the traditional burger. The Italian burger mixes sweet or hot Italian sausage (your choice depending on taste preference), hamburger, pesto mayonnaise, fresh mozzarella, and a rustic bun of some type. I like ciabatta for it, but mini baguettes work well, too.

Italian Burgers

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. each bulk Italian sausage (sweet or hot) and ground beef (20 percent fat keeps it from drying out)
  • 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
  • 1 cup Italian bread crumbs (or gluten-free bread crumbs plus 1 tablespoon each garlic powder and Italian seasoning)
  • 2 Tbsp. dried oregano
  • Fresh mozzarella (you can find it in the deli section of most grocery stores – fresh mozzarella is packed in liquid), sliced (eliminate for gluten-free)
  • 6 rustic buns such as ciabatta or mini baguettes (or gluten-free buns)
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
  • 1 container pre-made pesto or homemade (recipe available here)
  • 1 cup mayonnaise (commercial or homemade)

Method

  1. Mix meat, egg yolks, 2 cloves garlic, bread crumbs, and oregano until well combined. I mix with very clean hands to make sure it is well integrated.
  2. Shape burgers to fit your buns and grill or saute until done. Do not overcook.
  3. In the last few minutes of cooking, top with mozzarella until it melts.
  4. While burgers cook, slice buns lengthwise and brush with melted butter containing one clove of minced garlic.
  5. Broil the buns for a few moments to brown (or toss them on the grill for a few moments, cut side down). Alternatively, you can grill your buns and then rub them with a lengthwise sliced clove of garlic to give them a light garlic flavor.
  6. Combine mayonnaise and pesto. Spread the mixture on your buns.
  7. Top with burgers.

These burgers go great with a spicy Zinfandel or Syrah, or you can choose a more traditional Italian wine such as Sangiovese (the grape found in Chianti).