Sicilian Sausage

Italian sausage is very easy to make; even easier if you have a meat grinder with the sausage tubes for stuffing. This recipe calls for pork and beef. I prefer using all pork, but that's my taste.





SICILIAN SAUSAGE

3 1/2 pounds pork shoulder or butt (*)
1 1/2 pounds beef
5 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups minced Italian parsley chopped (flat leaf)
3 tablespoons fennel seed
2 tablespoons anise seeds
3/4 cup coarsely grated Romano cheese
3/4 cup coarsely graded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup water
¼ cup red wine (Marsala sweet is best)
1/2 pound sausage casings (natural casings preferred)
4 cloves of garlic fine chopped

Grind pork with beef, using medium blade on grinder, or have butcher do this for you. Combine ground meat with salt, parsley, fennel seed, anise seed, Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese, and pepper. Mix until all ingredients are well blended. Pour in water slowly and mix until all ingredients are bound together. Refrigerate over night for flavors to develop and blend with meat.

Place mixture in sausage press and have fun. If press is not available, stuff skins by hand, or form sausage mixture into paddies and pan fry. Let fresh (thawed) sausage sit at room temperature for 30 minutes prior to grilling or pan frying.

(*) Don’t use pork loin, as there is not enough fat to give it the proper sausage taste, and they will be too dry.

Biscuits

This recipe is not one of my inventions, but I guarantee, if you like biscuits as many of us do, you'll find yourself making them often. The recipe was first posted by David Lee on the King Arthur Baking Circle. David passed away recently at a very young age. He left a legacy of wonderful recipes; and, a legacy in the form of a person who truly cared for those of us who cook and bake. His memory lives on. I suggest to all reading this that you join the King Arthur Baker's Circle - www.bakingcircle.com. It costs nothing, and you will find some of the most wonderful people in the realm of baking and those of us who try to cook, and those who DO cook - not only for pleasure but as a profession as well. Join us. There is much to be learned here.

These biscuits are as quick and easy to make as opening up one of those biscuit tubes available in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, and 1000% better - sooooooooo flaky and tender!! You will NEVER go back to store bought!~~

• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder (double-acting)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 to 1 cup heavy cream
• Melted Butter

Preheat oven to 425F.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet or baking pan. Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl, then stir to combine them evenly. Add the cream and fold it in until a soft dough forms that can be easily handled. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and gently and lightly knead it for around 1 minute (max.)

Do not knead the dough like you would a bread dough -- handle it as lightly and as little as possible. You are only kneading it to make sure the dough has come together and is smooth -- you DO NOT want to develop the gluten like you would for regular bread dough.

Gently pat the dough out using your hands until the dough is around 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut into rounds, dip the round into melted butter and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Leftover dough should be gathered together, rekneaded just until it comes together again, then pat it out and cut again. Continue until all the dough is used.

The first cutting will be the nicest biscuits -- save those for "company!" Bake at 425F for 15 to 18 minutes. Serve hot!

Notes on cutting the dough -- first dip the cutter in flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the cutter, then cut straight down and DO NOT TWIST. Lift the cutter up quickly and the round will come out of the dough easily so you can pick it up and dip it in the butter. OR if you lift the cutter slowly you can pick up the uncut dough and the rounds will stay behind (like die punching!)