Cindy Cooks Mushroom-Sausage Ragu & Anniversary

It was Cindy’s night to cook supper and for her meal she chose Mushroom-Sausage Ragu using a recipe from Food & Wine and she followed it except she used the whole pound of sausage and served it over hominy grits rather than polenta which is make from more finely ground cornmeal. 

Mushroom- Sausage Ragu – Slightly adapted from Food & Wine

The Ingredients:

1 cup dried morel mushrooms

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 2 sweet Italian sausages

1/2 pound shiitake caps, quartered

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 thinly sliced shallots

6 water chestnuts, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Chopped parsley, for garnish

The Directions:

1. Soak the morels in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water until softened. Rinse and pat dry; reserve the soaking liquid.

2. In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil. Add the sausages, cover and cook over moderate heat until no longer pink within; slice 1/4 inch thick.

3. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet. Add the shiitake, season with salt and pepper and cook until softened.

4. Add the shallots and morels; cover and cook for 4 minutes.

5. Add the water chestnuts. Pour in the morel soaking liquid.

6. Add the sausages and simmer for 2 minutes.

7. Stir in the tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper.

8. Off the heat, swirl in the butter and sprinkle with parsley.

9. Serve over polenta grits.

The Verdict:

We all thought it was good but not great and we thought we would have preferred cremini mushrooms rather than the much more expensive and not very tasty morels.  This is our second time using rehydrated morels and it will be the last but I would like to try some fresh ones at some point.

I ask Cindy to make a double batch of grits and after we filled our bowls for supper, I stirred in some shredded cheddar and poured them into a jelly roll pan to a depth of about 3/8 inch.  When they cooled and set up, I cut them into rectangles to use for breakfast.  For several mornings, I fried them in oil and butter and topped with eggs to get this delicious meal.

And finally, I missed last years milestone so I'll celebrate this August 28th eleven year anniversary of Big Dudes Eclectic Ramblings.  Hard to believe it's been that long but I find it to be an invaluable documentation of our lives and wish I could have started about 40 years ago.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate you stopping by and becoming my blogger-buddies.  I don't know how long I'll continue but have no plans to quit at this time.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/26-8/27/20 meal dates