Italian sausage has a "great flavor"

As you are well aware, my favorite type of sausage is andouille. Truth be told, there is another type of sausage that is very close, Italian sausage. I remember my introduction to Italian sausage. My mother would always cook a few links for my father. As a child, I often wondered what was so special about them. When I first tasted it, I did not like the taste. As I grew older, I gave it another try. Too my surprise, I found that it was a great flavor, different from any other sausage I had eaten. From there, I was hooked.

So today, I want to share with you a couple of recipes featuring my second favorite sausage. The first one is a great appetizer, Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms. The second is a cliché dish, Italian Sausage and Peppers. Both of these showcase the versatility of the Italian sausage. So gather your ingredients, and Let’s head to the kitchen!

Italian Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

More often than not, mushrooms are stuffed with a seafood stuffing. Here’s a great twist on those recipes. It is a delicious variation.

1- 8 ounce package mushrooms

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 cup celery, finely chopped

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon Creole seasoning

8 ounces ground Italian Sausage, cooked

2 tablespoons white cheddar cheese, shredded

3 tablespoons Italian-style breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 ℉.

Spray baking sheet with non-stick spray and set aside. Wash mushrooms. Remove stems from each mushroom; set caps aside. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add celery, onions and garlic. Chop mushroom stems and add to veggies. Season veggies with thyme, oregano and Creole seasoning; stir. Cook veggies for 6-8 minutes or just until tender. Add sausage and continue to cook another 5 minutes. Remove skillet from the stove. Place sausage and veggies in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until mixture resembles crumbs. Fill each mushroom cap with a generous spoonful of stuffing. In a separate bowl, combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. Pour melted butter over breadcrumb mixture and stir to coat. Top each with shredded Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over each cap. Place mushrooms on prepared baking sheet. Bake mushrooms for 10-12 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender and breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Italian Sausage and Peppers

Here’s a very traditional dish. You can serve this as an entrée or on a hoagie roll as a sandwich. Either way, this is Italian cooking at its finest.

1 tablespoons canola oil

1 pack (19oz) sweet Italian sausage

1/2 green bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

2 medium sweet onions, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

14.5oz can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon Creole seasoning

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Add canola oil to a large pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until browned on all sides. Remove sausage from pan and set aside. (They don’t need to be cooked through at this point.) Add peppers and onions to grease left in the pan and cook over medium heat until softened. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Slice sausage into 1 to 1//2-inch pieces. Return sausage to pan along with the remaining ingredients. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until the sausage is cooked through and sauce is thickened. You can serve this as an entrée or on a hoagie roll as a sandwich.

You may ask if Italian sausage is interchangeable with other sausages. In some cases, yes it is. It tends to be a coarser grind sausage. Unlike smoked sausages, you will mostly fine Italian sausage raw. It will have to be fully cooked before you eat it, unlike smoked sausage, which is precooked.