Cheesy Short Rib and Sausage Lasagna Soup

By Paul Briand

Here’s another find via Flipboard, a well-used news and information app on my iPhone.

I’m a big fan of lasagna and have a few recipes here:
Mexican Lasagna
Skillet Lasagna
Unbelievable Lasagna
White House Turkey Lasagna with Spinach
Taco Lasagna

That said, I’m not a big soup guy, but the idea of lasagna as soup was intriguing.

So I followed the Flipboard link and found this recipe at SeriousEats.com.

It’s a little work intensive, given the need to cook down the pork, but it’s as hearty as you might imagine it would be and very tasty.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound boneless short ribs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound hot or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
3 medium cloves of garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
6 cups homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning mix
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
8 ounces dried ditalini or small fusilli pasta
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (About 5 ounces)
1 teaspoon grated zest from 1 lemon

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees, adjusting rack to accommodate your Dutch oven;
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, oven-safe stockpot or Dutch oven;
3. Generously season short ribs with salt and pepper;
4. When oil is shimmering, brown short ribs on all sides until golden brown, about 6 minutes total. Remove meat and transfer to a platter;
5. Add Italian sausage and brown, breaking up into little bits, until nearly cooked through, about 6 minutes;
6. Add onions, bell pepper and garlic to pan and sauté, stirring periodically, until softened, 6 to 7 minutes;
7. Return short ribs to pan. Add wine, tomatoes, chicken stock, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, bay leaves and thyme. Season with about 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to oven to cook until meat is fork tender, about 2 1/2 hours;
8. Remove from oven and transfer pot to stovetop. Shred short ribs using two forks. Remove and discard bay leaves and thyme sprigs;
9. Return to a boil over medium-high heat. Add pasta and cook according to package directions until still slightly firm;
10. Combine ricotta, Parmesan, Asiago, mozzarella, and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to taste;
11. Remove soup from heat. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Spoon into individual bowls, top with a generous dollop of cheese mixture and serve immediately.

Click here for recipe card.

Potato Sausage Casserole

By Paul Briand

This recipe came about from an Internet search. We had some leftover sausage from a football game throwdown, I needed to use up the meat, and I was expecting a crowd for dinner.

The most appealing recipe that came up in my search was this Potato Sausage Casserole from TasteofHome.com.

As per my normal suggestion, look for the low-sodium canned ingredients where you can, such as the cream of mushroom soup in this recipe. Low-fat cheese is also an option, though I find it doesn’t get as creamy when melted as the full-fat.

Ingredients
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups sliced peeled potatoes
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
Minced fresh parsley, optional

Directions
1. In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink then drain and set aside;
2. Combine the soup, milk, onion, salt and pepper;
3. In a greased 2-quart baking dish, layer half of the potatoes, soup mixture and sausage. Repeat layers;
4. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until potatoes are tender;
5. Sprinkle with cheese; bake, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes more minutes or until cheese is melted;
6. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Click here for recipe card.

Chicken Sausage Stir Fry

By Paul Briand

We had some chicken sausage left over from the casserole recipe that my wife Jane had prepared.

So I whipped up a very easy, very quick stir fry. It was a bit of a fusion thing - combining an Italian-like sausage of garlic and mozzarella with stir fried vegetables in a soy and rice wine vinegar sauce.

Ingredients
For the sauce:
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup rice wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground ginger
For the stir fry:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 links of turkey sausage, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound sliced vegetables (carrots, broccoli, snow peas, bell pepper, green onion)
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water

Directions
1. In bowl, whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and ginger. Set aside;
2. Heat oil in wok (or large skillet) over medium high heat, add sausage and saute until meat starts to brown;
3. Add onion and vegetables and saute for two minutes;
4. Stir in soy sauce mixture, bring to boil, reduce heat and cover for 3-5 minutes or until vegetables are tender;
5. Stir in cornstarch mixture, bring sauce back to boil until sauce thickens. Serve.

Click here for recipe card.

Grilled Stuffed Portobellos

By Paul Briand

A favorite present from this Christmas past was a new set of grilling tools and Bobby Flay's "Grill It!" recipe book from my children.

Now that it's more like grilling weather here in northern New England I've broken out both the tools and the cookbook, and it's a sure thing you'll be seeing some of the "Grill It!" recipes here.

Flay is a fan favorite on the Food Channel. I especially like his throw-downs -- when puts his recipe up against the recipe of a local crowd favorite somewhere in the country. I wrote about a meatloaf throw-down back in August 2008.

I treated this adapted recipe of Portobello mushrooms, sweet Italian sausage, spinach, mozzarella cheese and tomatoes as a meal. And with a side dish of zucchini and squash that I also grilled, it was quite the pleasing medley.

Ingredients
6 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces sweet Italian sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon chile flakes (Note: Flay likes heat in most all his dishes. This is optional for those who don't like heat.)
1/2 cup dry red wine
8 ounces fresh spinach, stems removed, coarsely chopped
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
12 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
4 large Portobello mushrooms, stems removed
2 tomatoes, sliced

Directions
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium pan over high heat and cook the sausage, breaking it up into small pieces;
2. As the sausage starts to lose its pink add the chopped onion, pepper flakes (if you choose to use them) and garlic;
3. As the onion starts to become translucent, add the wine and simmer until completely evaporated;
4. Add the spinach and a half a cup of water, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the spinach is wilted and the water evaporates;
5. Stir in four cubes of mozzarella (which will help act as a binder), plus the basil and parsley;
6. Once the cheese melts throughout, remove from heat and set aside;
7. Brush mushroom caps on both sides with olive oil and place on heated grill, cooking both sides until brown;
8. Remove mushroom caps from grill and, cap side down, fill each mushroom with sausage mixture, top with mozzarella cubes and tomato;
9. Return mushrooms to the grill, close the cover and cook until cheese has melted and tomatoes are soft, about five minutes.

Red Sauce with Sausage

By Paul Briand

Everyone should have a red sauce at their disposal for home cooking. There's no need, frankly, to depend on Ragu or any other canned or bottled brand when there are a lot of people to feed and the menu calls for a hearty red sauce with your favorite kind of pasta.

My red sauce comes from an amalgamation of influences -- from my mother (and her ethnic mix of Italian and Ukrainian), my sister Margaret, a girl I dated a while ago, from reading cookbooks and from a bit of experimenting on my part. In other words, when it comes to eating at various homes over the years I've paid attention, absorbed hints and bits of data, churned them up and made them my own.

Besides the ingredients, what I like to absorb from good cooks is technique. For example, I picked up a technique for cooking the Italian sausage from a Silver Palette cookbook my mother gave me for Christmas in 1999. It recommended pricking the sausage with a fork and boiling them in a large pot or skillet in about a half inch of water over medium/high heat. Then let the water boil away and continue to cook the sausage until brown on all sides. Remove the sausage to a plate, discard the fat, but don't clean the pot/skillet. Add some olive oil and use that accumulated goodness at the bottom of the pot to then start preparing the sauce itself.

The other technique that I picked up but don't necessarily use is the addition of a little sugar to, obviously, sweeten up the red sauce. And the aforementioned bygone girlfriend also shredded some carrot into her sauce to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes.

As for the sausages I like to mix sweet with hot -- I buy a package of each. It creates a surprise in every bite -- sometimes tangy, sometimes not. I also substitute the sausage on occasion with ground beef or ground turkey, depending on my level of nutritional guilt at any one time.

Ingredients
2 - 2 1/4 pounds of Italian sausage (half sweet, half hot)
3-4 cloves garlic, mashed
Green pepper, sliced
Vadalia onion, sliced
8 ounce package of sliced mushrooms
28 ounce can kitchen ready tomatoes
29 ounce can tomato sauce
12 ounce can tomato paste
Cup of red wine
Parsley, oregano, sage, basil - a tbsp of each

Directions
1) Cook sausage in large pot or skillet as described above -- prick links with a fork, boil in about half inch water over medium/high heat, let the water boil away then continue to brown sausage on all sides. Set sausage aside, drain fat but don't clean the pot/skillet;
2) Add olive oil, and sautee garlic, pepper, and onions 3 minutes;
3) Add mushrooms and cook mixture another 2 minutes;
4) Add kitchen ready tomatoes and tomato sauce and give a good stir;
5) Add tomato paste and give another good stir to get the paste well into the sauce;
6) Add the red wine and add the parley, oregano, sage and basil;
7) Stir and reduce to a simmer.

Now, I'm sure you've heard it said that the sauce should simmer just about all day. I say, "Fuggedaboutit!" A half hour, 45 minutes tops of simmering and stirring and you'll be good to go. Cook your favorite pasta and toss a salad. One note about the salad: In my mom's kitchen we never, ever had tomatoes in the salad on the nights she served spaghetti and sauce. Too much tomato, she said. I still hold that as sacred today.