Sweet Italian Sausage with Potato wedges and Rosemary

What a delicious way to class up some simple sausage and taters

It’s simple and easy prep.

Do ahead tip:

Pre-cook pieces of sausage and have them in the freezer. It makes for really quick meals and so much better for you than any take out.

It’s easy to use leftovers too.

If you prefer really spicy sausage it would be great with Creekside Meadows Xtra Hot Italian or even our Mexican Style Chorizo.

Recipe serves about 6 people but it’s easy to halve or double it for a crowd.

From Farmer and Cookbook Author Shannon Hayes. The Grassfed Gourmet- if you don’t have her books seriously you should!

2 pounds Creekside Meadows Sweet Italian Sausage- Cut into 8 pieces

1/4 cup coarsely chopped onions

8 medium sized russet potatoes, cut into large wedges

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper- don’t skip it as it really adds to the taste

1 cup dry white wine (see tips below if you prefer not using wine)

4 springs of fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 350F

Heat 2 tablespoons lard or olive oil over medium heat in a large oven proof pot or cast iron skillet or dutch oven.

Brown the sausages 3-5 minutes each side- you aren’t cooking them through just browning them. Remove and cut into pieces about the same size as the potato wedges- I cut my pieces into 2-3 pieces. . Pour off the fat, add another 2 tablespoons of lard or olive oil, add the onions and saute until transparent. Add in the potato wedges and cook about 5 minutes on high heat. Stir often so they don’t stick.

Return sausage and their juices to the pot, add in the salt, pepper, cayenne. Pour the wine over the top, add the rosemary. Cover and bake about 1 hour until the potatoes are pierced easily with a fork.

I served these with some steamed carrots and fresh applesauce.

The dish calls for 1 cup of dry white wine and I know someone won’t like this. Remember the alcohol cooks off and leaves that wonderful flavor behind. I would assume apple cider or chicken broth could be used but of course imparts a different flavor. I have not tried either but let me know if you do try a non-wine liquid so I can share the results!

If you happen to have leftovers….

I cut everything into smaller pieces then add to a frittata or just reheat on the stove top. I warm up a small cast iron pan, add in some olive oil, lard or butter, then saute everything until warmed.

Pork Shoulder Slow Roast with Onions and Apples

See how juicy this is? Perfect, fall apart tender and a very flavorful sweet meat. Enjoy.

Pork Shoulder isn’t just for pulled pork or cooking in the smoker. It really lends itself to a slow oven roast (or slow cooker) on a bed of onions and apples.

I’ve adapted this from Long Way on a Little by Farmer Shannon Hayes (Sap Bush Hollow Farm, NY).

Growing up my parents didn’t really know how to properly cook with onions. As I’ve worked on improving my cooking skills I discovered that onions needs some love and some heat to really be enjoyed. Some heat to soften them up and bring out the sweetness.

Pork goes with apples and onions pretty much all the time. Heck even pigs like apples although they don’t care for onions. Anyways….. back to the recipe.

As you can see this roast is BIG- it’s a 5 1/2 pound bone in Pork Butt Roast. Butt does NOT refer to the buttocks of the pig it’s actually part of the shoulder. I will not get into the reasoning for this odd and totally confusing name, at least not now I’m hungry.

You can certainly do a smaller roast if you have to.

This was roasted in the oven but a slow cooker would work. I have NOT done this particular recipe in the InstaPot, if you do I would suggest you caramelize the onions first using the saute feature. I slow roasted in the oven so skipped that step.

Recipe

1 Pork Butt Roast- it comes from the shoulder and you could use a shoulder roast too.

3-4 pounds.

2 pounds onions, peeled and sliced thin

5-6 baking apples (go for tart if you can, if not wing it with what you have) Scrubbed but not peeled and quartered

Some salt and Pepper.

Place roast on a bed of onions and apples in your roasting pan. Sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of coarse salt and a couple teaspoons or so of black pepper. See? Simple.

Roast at 250-300F (not all ovens will work well at 250F- mine won’t but it needs replacing)

6—7 Until fall apart tender. Smaller roasts will only take 3-4 hours.

Instant pot- yes!

You need liquid for the instant pot. I used 1 cup chicken broth and 1 cup apple cider.

Use the Saute setting, once hot, add a few tablespoons of olive oil or lard, add the onions stir to prevent sticking and burning. Once they are nice golden brown, remove, then sear the roast on all sides, adding more olive oil or lard as needed. Remove. Turn off, add 1/2 cup of chicken stock to deglaze the pan, scraping to loosen up all the browned bits. Add in remainder of chicken stock and cider, apples, onions. Use the meat setting and set it to 90 minutes for a 4 pound roast.

**the instant pot directions say 15 minutes per pound and I find that with really good pasture raised pork it’s more like 20 minutes per pound.**

once it beeps as done, let it naturally release the pressure. This can take about 15-20 minutes and is important for a tender fall apart roast. Check to see if the roast is tender. If not it needs another 5-10 minutes of press. Remove roast to a platter, tent to keep warm. Press Saute button and reduce the liquid down to what you would like. Stir often. Slice roast- or pull apart as it will be very tender. Pour the sauce, apples and onions over meat at serving.

Leftovers make excellent warm sandwiches, added to soups, stirfry, added to a green salad. I reheat with some liquid in a covered casserole in the oven at 300F. Sorry I don’t have a microwave!