I couldn't wait to try these sausages that came from Megan and Josh. Josh's family hunt up in the Thunder Bay area and then use and share all the meat, some of which we were lucky enough to sample in the form of these sausages.
You have to have mashed potatoes with sausages, it is almost an unwritten rule no? I had some cabbage to finish up so decided that was the vegetable dish and I got some pancetta to fry with it for a continuance of the pork theme ( the venison sausage is cut with pork as it is so lean ). I also had some mushrooms to use and some pearl onions I got to try, so it seemed like the meal was set.
I started by frying the sausages to seal them on both sides, then transferring them to a baking pan. I quickly fried the mushrooms and whole pearl onions to give them some colour and added them to the pan too, in and around the sausages, then I put them in the oven to bake at about 375degrees for 45minutes. I am always wary with sausages that they get cooked properly, so I either boil them first then fry or bbq them to finish them or bake them in the oven. While they were baking I washed some potatoes and cut them up and got them boiling. I am a fan of potato skins in mash, if you aren't then obviously peel them first. I am lazy and have a huge jar of chopped garlic in the fridge, which is great until you want to roast some garlic to go in mashed potatoes and you don't have any cloves. Boo! I ended up browning some garlic in butter then adding it to the potatoes as I was mashing them. If you do have whole garlic heads then definitely roast them for the mash. Slice an entire head in half, drizzle some oil over the exposed surface and bake in the oven until soft. The garlic goes so sweet! Just dig each clove out with a knife or squeeze them out from the bottom. If you don't need that much then roast a few cloves in their skins with some oil on them. The garlic goes very soft, slightly brown and tastes and smells wonderful. I guarantee if you made too much you will find ways to use it i.e on crackers with cream cheese.
While the potatoes are cooking, cut up the pancetta into small cubes and start frying it in a pan. I actually removed some large areas of pure fat before cutting it up. Once the fat starts to come off it and the cubes are browning slightly, add in your finely chopped cabbage. Let this fry for a little while and then you will need to add dashes of water intermittently in order to prevent it from sticking. I also added some garlic powder, pepper and salt to help it along it's way. Occasionally it did start to stick which gives it a nice golden colour instead of a translucent appearance, so a little is good but don't let it burn! Keep adding water as it is needed until you are ready to eat it. I like my cabbage cooked soft for this so I let it cook a long time, like 30minutes or more.
When the potatoes are ready, drain the water, add some milk, butter, salt and pepper and the garlic then mash it. Or do whatever you normally do with your potatoes.
I used a Knorr packet of red wine and herb gravy to start my gravy off. To this I added some guava jelly, a wild fruit jelly would do nicely in place there, just for a bit of sweetness. I also added in all the mushrooms and pearl onions that had roasted with the sausages. Then I poured some water into the baking pan and rubbed off all the lovely brown bits that are full of flavour and added that water to the gravy too. It was a wonderful concoction. Neither of us drinks red wine much, or at all in my case really, so we rarely have any in the house, otherwise I would attempt to make it from scratch, or at least add my own wine to a gravy. I had the sausages wrapped in foil keeping warm until we were ready to eat.
All in all it was a great meal. I was surprised at how smooth the sausages were, it had been ground extra fine, I guess this helps with mixing different meats nicely too maybe. It had a rich, aromatic flavour almost. Such a treat to have something so out of the ordinary! The mashed potatoes were earthy with the presence of the skins, and then sweet from the garlic, a wonderful pile of goodness! The cabbage was nice too. Though I think I may have overdone it a little as the pancetta pieces were a little dry. Perhaps I will try frying the pancetta then removing it and using the fat to cook the cabbage in and adding the pancetta back in later on, or just not cooking the whole thing as long. As usual, the gravy makes or breaks things and this was a great gravy! Mushrooms have a really sweet, intense flavour when they are roasted, partly because some of the liquid comes out of them so their flavour is concentrated. The pearl onions are really delicate too. I loved the depth that the red wine added to it and the sweet edge from the jelly. It really set the meal off and held it all together so nicely.
Thanks for the sausages guys!
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