Sausage Stuffed Shells with Fresh Ricotta

Quick & easy weeknight meal.

This recipe can be duplicated by merely viewing the photos... nothing mysterious about it. But very tasty! I had made fresh Ricotta and wanted to try it in a savory dish instead of a dessert.

Ingredients:
1 pound Spicy/Hot Italian sausage, bulk
1 pound Mild Italian Sausage, bulk, recipe
1 box large pasta shells
1 recipe fresh Ricotta, recipe
12 ounces fresh marinara
Garnish with mozzarella and fresh Italian parsley

STEP 1: Start water to boil noodles. Once water has come to a boil, add pasta. I drizzle a bit of olive oil into the water to prevent the shells from sticking to each other. Boil for about 10 minutes, checking often for doneness.

STEP 2: As soon as you put your water on to boil, start cooking the sausage in a skillet. Break all the sausage into large pieces to help it break down, then as it continues to cook, continue breaking it up with a wooden spatula until the pieces are fairly small. Cook until no pink is seen and meat is done. Set aside.

STEP 3: When pasta is done, drain. Place several shells into a 9x13" baking dish. Add a spoonful of the cooked sausage and a generous dollop of fresh ricotta. Continue until shells/sausage are gone.

STEP 4: Preheat oven to 400*. Drizzle marinara over all shells and garnish with shredded mozzarella.

STEP 5: Heat in oven until mozzarella is melted and shells are heated through. After plating, garnish with Italian parsley.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage, Ground

Nothing better than biscuits with sausage gravy!

My family loves to eat breakfast, no matter what time of day that happens to be! I've been making breakfast for dinner since I was first married over 27 years ago.

Now this doesn't mean we don't enjoy breakfast in the morning, because we do! It's just that we would eat 'breakfast' any time of the day,.. as long as it's what my family calls 'big breakfast'.

Allow me to explain. If I served my family oatmeal for dinner, they wouldn't think that's so cool. So understand that my family will eat breakfast for dinner, IF it includes meat, potatoes, eggs and maybe some kind of bread. So 'big breakfast' to my family might be pancakes with fried potatoes and bacon on the side. Or maybe omelettes with cheddar cheese & applesauce (my husbands' favorite) with fried ham and whole wheat toast. Or how about some crispy hash browns, with 2 fluffy biscuits opened on top and smothered in sausage gravy. Maybe with a couple over-easy eggs on top for good measure. Now THAT'S what my family calls 'big breakfast'!

So when the day arrived that I discovered I could make sausage at home, I naturally tried making some breakfast sausage. I looked online and found a few recipes that looked interesting. I'm using a recipe I found on allrecipes.com, but I changed the amounts of each of the spices, making it more to my liking. I think it's delicious. Hope you agree!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds pork (Buy it already ground if you have no meat grinder)
2 Tbl dried sage
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 + 1/8 tsp dried marjoram
2 Tbl brown sugar
1 Tbl crushed red pepper flakes
1 pinch ground cloves

If you're using unground pork, follow the directions here.

*This recipe allows for the sausage to be eaten immediately, no need to let the spices cure with the meat overnight.

Homemade Mild Italian Sausage

My husband bought me a Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer a few years back and for the next few special occasions, he gifted me with special attachments that don't come with the original mixer. One such gift: a meat grinder! I must admit I didn't use it right away & never actually thought of using it to make sausage.

As a child, I remember my Mom using a meat grinder that she attached to our pull-out bread board, which she had to crank by hand. She used it to grind larger cuts of meat into its' ground version for meatloaf, etc. Now since I can buy meat already ground, my meat grinder attachment gift sat unused for a while.... until I saw an online recipe by Emeril Lagasse, showcasing his homemade Mild Italian Sausage recipe. So we tried it out & I can't say enough how easy, inexpensive & rewarding it is to grind your own sausage! It's so easy I don't really feel like I'm doing any work....ya know, like 'extra credit'. (Spongebob - Season 2/Episode 10 "No Free Rides". hehe)

So, back to the sausage....

Emerils Mild Italian Sausage (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/homemade-mild-italian-sausage-recipe/index.html)

Ingredients you'll need:

3 pounds well-marbled pork butt (Buy ground pork if you don't own a meat grinder)
2 Tbl minced garlic
1 Tbl + 1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp toasted fennel seeds*
1 Tbl salt
1 Tbl freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp ground anise* (Anise is simply ground fennel seeds)
2 Tbl freshly chopped Italian parsley
3 Tbl dry red wine (I used balsalmic vinegar)
Pork casings, optional (I just bagged mine since I would use mine like ground beef.)

If your fennel seeds (found in the spice section at the supermarket) aren't toasted, simply measure what you'll need and 'place whole spices in a sauté pan, preferably non-stick, over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 5 minutes'. (This tip from Bon Appetit:  http://www.bonappetit.com/tipstools/tips/2008/04/how_to_toast_spices#ixzz21xmrNtxr)

STEP 1: Cut meat into small cubes. Combine meat and all remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

I had purchased a 13 pound Pork Loin from Costco. (Instead of Pork Butt,
which the recipe calls for)

I sliced off what would be pork chops, then cut that even smaller into cubes.

Here the meat is all cubed and ready for the spices!

I added the remaining ingredients and tossed the meat to get a good coating
 on all of it; then covered & placed in 'fridge.

STEP 2: Pass meat through meat grinder.

Always use the tool provided to push the meat down into the tube.

Here is the meat as it passes through the grinder for the first time.

If the pieces aren't small enough, pass them through the grinder a second time.

STEP 3: Time for a taste-test! Fry up a few teaspoons to check for a satisfactory flavor. (If your pork was pretty lean you may have to add a tiny bit of oil to fry the meat in.) Adjust the seasonings as desired. I thought it tasted awesome the first time and didn't change a thing!



Frying up a little for my first taste of homemade sausage!

I wrote the necessary information on my bags and scooped out some into each.

I then weighed them and either added more or took some out so that I ended up with several 1 pound packs.

I had divided my meat into three pieces before I started. I then made 1/3 Mild Italian, 1/3 Spicy Italian and 1/3 Breakfast Sausage.

*Like to try my Breakfast Sausage Recipe? click here