annie's blog

Who doesn’t need a good excuse to eat sausage?  Even vegetarians have great options available (I almost like the soy chorizo from Trader Joes better than regular chorizo!).  And those beef and pork-shy individuals can get really fantastic turkey sausage in as many varieties as regular sausage (almost)…

So in honor of sausage I have a great one-dish recipe to share that I found in Real Simple magazine.  My mom gives me a gift subscription every Christmas, and it always has very good simple recipes.  This one was particularly good.

You will need:  Sweet Italian Sausage (I used turkey), 2 cloves garlic, 2 carrots, 1 bunch swiss chard (or kale), 1 can Cannellini beans, bread crumbs.  Also olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Enter the Sweet Italian Sausage:  I like Hot Italian, but Shaun prefers the sweet.  Alas, I compromise.

The sausage goes in the cast iron skillet with a little olive oil and browns for about five minutes.  Then it goes on a plate.  It won’t be cooked through yet, but that’s okay.  Then I put in a the minced garlic for a few seconds, and stir it around until I smell it.  Add the chopped carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes until a little softened.  Then add the roughly chopped swiss chard (healthy points for this one!) and let them cook down just until they lose their volume.  Finally, the beans go in the dish with a little salt and pepper.  For the finishing touch, you mix about 1 Tbs breadcrumbs with just enough olive oil to get them moist and sprinkle them over the top (okay, I used maybe 1 and a half Tbs breadcrumbs).

You must then create a little bed for the sausages and stick the skillet in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Pull it out of the oven and voila!

And a single serving:

Yum.  Devour.