Sage and Sausage

That's fresh sage. What a wonderful texture the leaves have and you can almost smell it. I used a bunch of sage to make homemade pork sausages with applesauce this weekend. Currently, I'm in somewhat of an Irish mode, experimenting with my beautiful new cookbook, Irish Traditional Cooking. On Sunday afternoon, I plopped four Granny Smith apples into a saucepan with a touch of water and sugar. I cooked these on very low heat for a short time, until the apples broke down. I've never actually made applesauce before and this smelled delicious. I could have added cinnamon at this point for a different treat.

The sausages were a snap to prepare, since casings are not necessary. A bit of fatty pork, minced, is best. Mix with the fresh herbs of your choice and plenty of salt and pepper. I love the combination of sage and apple, so chose this fragrant herb. For 1 lb. of fatty pork, also add 1 egg, 1 clove of garlic, and 2/3 C. soft breadcrumbs, as advised by cookbook author Darina Allen (I'm not a big fan of following recipes, but if you need measurements.) Allen recommends dividing the pork mixture into sixteen, rolled lengths, but I fried the sausage in bigger circles. I think the smaller pieces would have worked better.

The applesauce paired quite well with the sausages, although I think J* was more interested in the applesauce. In true Irish style, I served a potato dish on the side: buttery chive champ. One step further and I would have had colcannon.

What's next this week? Beef and Guinness Stew of course and Fadge

Slainte!