The Big Sal

By Paul Briand

April is Grilled Cheese Month … who knew?

So, in light of that eureka moment, I’ve found a grilled cheese recipe that is way beyond what you’d expect of a grilled cheese sandwich.

It’s called The Big Sal, and it’s included as part of a recipe contest for grilled cheese promoted by Tasting Table, which describes itself as “the free daily email for adventurous eaters everywhere.”

(The Big Sal, if you want to find it on the link above, is No. 25 on the slideshow.)

This dish serves four and is a gooey combination of sweet Italian sausage and different kind of cheeses melted into ciabatta rolls using a panini press. Like I said, it’s not your mama’s grilled cheese sandwich.

A couple of notes on this: I grilled my sausages using my outdoor gas grill, and I skipped the 15 minutes of baking.

Ingredients
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
4 sweet Italian sausages
2 onions, such as Vidalia, sliced ¼ inch thick
1 large bell pepper, sliced ¼ inch thick
4 ounces cremini or button mushrooms, sliced ¼ inch thick
4 ciabatta rolls
4 ounces Wisconsin Asiago cheese, grated
8 ?-inch thick slices fresh mozzarella
White or black truffle oil, optional
1 cup jarred, roasted red pepper strips

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and heat  2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in large, oven-safe sauté pan over medium heat;
2.  Add sausages and brown on all sides. Remove sausages to plate and return pan to stove;
3. Add onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Sauté 5 minutes.
4. Cut sausages in half lengthwise and place in pan with vegetables;
5. Place pan in oven and bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven;
6. Preheat panini grill over medium-high heat. Drizzle buns with olive oil and halve;
7. Place 1 ounce (generous 1/8 cup) grated Asiago cheese on each roll bottom; top with 1 slice mozzarella;
8. Layer with 2 sausage halves and approximately 1/2 cup of the onions-peppers-mushrooms;
9. Drizzle with a few drops of white or black truffle oil, if using. (A little goes a long way.);
10. Top with 1/4 cup pepper strips, additional slice mozzarella, and ciabatta tops;
11. Place in panini press for 5 minutes or until cheese melts and bread is golden brown.

Click here for recipe card.

Porco In A Blanket

By Paul Briand

Porco is Italian for pig … as in sweet Italian sausage … as in pigs in a blanket. Got it?

You know pigs in a blanket -- those tasty little hot dogs wrapped in baked dough, then dipped in mustard. So good and so not good for you.

This variation on that theme takes Italian sausage links and wraps them in either your favorite wrap or burrito. You can fill it with peppers and onions (much like you’d have at the ballpark) and you can even add the mustard.

Ingredients

1 package of sweet (or hot) Italian sausage (usually 4 - 5 a pack)

Wraps or burritos (for as many sausages as you cook)

Green bell pepper, sliced

Vidalia onion, sliced

Two cloves onion, crushed

Olive oil

Package of shredded Mozarella cheese

Directions

1. On a grill heated to medium, cook the sausage, turning regularly, until done, about 15 to 20 minutes;

2. Meanwhile, in a medium hot pan heat three teaspoons of the oil and saute the vegetables until they are translucent;

3. Spread a layer of cheese on a wrap and heat in the microwave for 45 seconds;

4. Layer the wrap with a sausage, some of the vegetable mixture, and any condiments, such as mustard, if desired;

5. Roll the wrap, tucking in the edges, and serve.

For recipe card click here.

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Rice & Sausage Stuffing

By Paul Briand

Here's a good recipe for autumn that captures some of the texture, color and flavor of the season.

I like that the squash becomes not only part of the meal but part of the presentation too.

Ingredients

2 acorn squash, each cut crosswise in half and seeded

1 tablespoon olive oil

8 ounces of sweet (or hot) Italian sausage (casings removed if buying links)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 chopped red bell pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

Salt, parsley and cayenne pepper to taste

2 cups cooked brown rice

Directions

1. Spray a large microwave-safe plate with a non-stick cooking spray and place squash halves -- cut side down -- on plate. Microwave on high until fork tender, about 10 minutes. Remove and let cool enough to work with;

2. In large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat and add sausage, stirring to break up and cooking until no longer pink. Remove sausage and set aside in large bowl;

3. Add onions, red pepper, garlic salt and pepper to skillet, cook until tender, about 8 minutes;

4. Remove from heat and add mixture to the bowl with the sausage;

5. Scoop out the squash, leaving about a quarter inch thick shell, and add the squash meat to the bowl;

6. Add rice and parsley to the bowl and mix until everything is well combined;

7. Evenly divide the mixture among the four squash shells. Serve warm.

By Paul Briand

Italian Sausage Skillet with Caramelized Onions, Tomatoes and Peppers

Here's one more recipe from the "Flat Belly! Diet for Men" that I've been playing with for a couple of weeks, with some success. Without being on the diet, but eating some of what the diet recommends I've managed to lose a few pounds.

I have to confess to a Fat Belly diet the day of the Super Bowl, which impeded some of the downward progress.

What strikes me about some of the recipes in the diet -- this one included -- is that they're actually pretty hearty, and I wonder how there can be so few calories. This particular recipe of pan-seared Italian sweet sausages with vegetables purports to be only 304 calories per serving. The hard part, as I've said earlier, is keeping it to one serving.

Ingredients
12 ounces Italian sweet sausages
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 red bell pepper sliced
1 green bell pepper sliced
3 cloves garlic sliced
3 plum tomatoes cut into 16 pieces each
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions
1. Pour the water into a skillet over medium heat and add the sausage;
2. Boil the sausage, turning often, until the water boils away, then brown all sides of sausage until thoroughly cooked through;
3. Transfer sausage to a cutting board and let cool;
4. Cut sausage into half-inch thick slices;
5. Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat;
6. Add the onions, sugar, basil and oregano. Cook until it begins to caramelize with a nice brown color;
7. Add the peppers and cook another 3 to 4 minutes;
8. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute;
9. Add the tomatoes and cook 3 to 4 minutes;
10. Stir in the sausage, vinegar, salt (always optional with me), and pepper;
11. Heat through and serve.

Makes four servings.

Skillet Baked Spaghetti

By Paul Briand

First off, when the directions say to use large skillet, use a very large skillet.

My 12-inch skillet was barely large enough to fit all the ingredients for this all-encompassing dish that is perfect for these crisp fall evenings.

The stirring part that described below meant a fair amount of spillage, but in the end this recipe from my local Shaw's supermarket was very satisfying.

My changes/additions to the recipe included onions and pepper, and I didn't use as much water as was suggested, mostly because I had simply run out of room in the skillet.

Ingredients
12 ounces of ground beef
4 ounces of sweet or hot Italian sausage (two links will suffice, remove the casings if buying links)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green pepper, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
28-ounce can of kitchen ready tomatoes
8 ounces of uncooked spaghetti, broken into 2-inch pieces
2 cups water
1/4 cup heavy cream (I substituted half and half)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
6 tablespoons basil
1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to broil, with rack down one slot from usual broiling position;
2. In a large skillet (very large skillet) coated with olive oil over medium high heat, cook the onion and pepper until onion starts getting translucent;
3. Add minced garlic, oregano and basil and stir, then add ground beef and sausage, breaking them up with wooden spoon and cooking until no longer pink;
4. Stir in tomatoes, spaghetti and water, cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the pasta begins to soften (you'll know right here whether your skillet is big enough);
5. Reduce heat to medium low and continue to simmer and stir, cooking the pasta until it's al dente;
6. Stir in the cream (or half and half) and a half cup of cheese;
7. Remove skillet from burner, top mixture with rest of cheese and place under broiler;
8. Let cook about three minutes or until the spaghetti mixture surface is spotty brown.

Serves from four to six.

Please note: Handle with care and oven mitts. It's heavy and very hot coming out of the oven.

Italian Sausage Dinner Hash

By Paul Briand

If I have potatoes just laying around for no specific dinner menu, I'll make them into a breakfast/brunch hash or hashed browns.

And I had some potatoes laying around this week and thought: Why not bulk up a hash to dinner proportions?

Because this recipe creates a lot of hash, I cook it in the oven, using a spatula to turn the mixture over in the baking dish in order to get everything nice and brown. Also, I had some leftover ears of fresh corn that I stripped and added to the mixture. You can easily substitute a package of frozen corn.

Ingredients
6 medium sized red potatoes
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
Package of frozen corn
1 Vidalia onion, diced
1 Italian pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Parsley
Sweet basil
Black pepper

Directions
1. Wash but don't peel the potatoes;
2. Cut them into large pieces and boil them until they are just about fork tender. Drain and set aside;
3. As the potatoes are boiling, in a medium hot pan cook the sausage, breaking it up into small pieces until the pink is gone and set aside;
4. Using the sausage grease (add olive oil if there isn't enough) saute the onion, pepper and garlic until they are getting limp. Remove and set aside;
5. Pour the drained potatoes into a large mixing bowl, and use a wooden spoon or potato masher to break up the chunks into smaller pieces;
6. Add the onion, pepper and garlic to the mixing bowl;
7. Break up and add the package of frozen corn;
8. Add parsley, sweet basil and pepper to taste and mix up the ingredients;
9. Place mixture into a large baking dish, spread evenly and cook uncovered in oven pre-heated at 425 degrees;
10. After 10 minutes pull out the pan and use a spatula to turn the hash;
11. Remove after another 10 minutes or after the hash is browned through and through.

And, by the way, I used the leftovers for breakfast with two eggs over easy.