We continue to explore the meats at McCall’s our new neighborhood Meat and Fish Market. We decided to try their homemade sausage. The links were huge and when cooked delicious. We decided to make Sausages and Polenta. We used the recipe from The Fine Art of Italian Cooking by Giuliano Bugialli.
We made Rapini to go with it. We sauted the Rapini with garlic and olive oil, added salt and pepper then at the end added red wine vinegar. The acidity of the Rapini was perfect for cutting the richness of the porcini sauce.
We got lots of leftovers from this dish!
Polenta con Salsicce
(serves 6)
(Polenta with Sausages)
from The Fine Art of Italian Cooking by Giuliano Bugialli
Sausages cooked in a wonderful sauce made with wild mushrooms and all poured over slices of polenta. It makes one look forward to the cold weather.
4 ounces dried porcini mushrooms 6 large sweet sausages
1 red onion
5 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup tomato paste
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cups meat or chicken broth
Polenta
Soak the dried mushrooms in a bowl of lukewarm water for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the sausages in half; chop the onion fine.
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan on a medium flame. When it is warm, add the chopped onion and saute until golden brown (about 12 minutes), stirring with a wooden spoon every so often. Add the sausage pieces and saute very lightly for 10 minutes, then add the tomato paste and simmer for 5 minutes more. Add the soaked mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
In a second saucepan, heat the broth to boiling. When it is hot, pour it into the saucepan containing the sausages. Let simmer very slowly until a large quantity of broth has evaporated (about 25 minutes).
While the sauce is reducing, make the polenta, with quantities listed according to the directions on page 367. When the polenta is ready and on its round board (or pasta board), cut it into slices with a string.
Pour the sauce into a large sauceboat and serve hot, along with the polenta. Place several slices of polenta on each individual dish and cover it with the sausage sauce.
