What’s Stu Cooking

This recipe was inspired by a favorite dish of mine - grillades and grits - along with a recipe from a muched loved cookbook - Sausage and Mash. Make sure you use a sausage with a high meat content. I like the chipolatas because they are generally meatier than most of the sausages I can find here in England, plus they fry up to leave a brown sticky goo in the pan that really flavors the sauce nicely.

• 1 lb chipolata sausages or other meaty sausage
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1-2 green peppers, 1 inch dice
• 1 large, mild red chili pepper
• 2 shallots minced (garlic or onion could substitute)
• 1 teaspoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon four mashed up with 1 tablespoon softened butter
• 200 ml red wine
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 125 ml chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• chopped basil or parsley for garnish

Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan. When hot melt in the butter, add the sausages and cook over moderate heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until the sausages have browned and left a nice sticky residue in the pan. Remove the sausages, pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat and reduce the heat on the pan.

Briefly cook the peppers and shallots in the oil for just a few minutes and then add the thyme followed shortly by the red wine. Simmer the wine until the smell of the alcohol has diminished - about 5 minutes - then add the sugar and salt. Pour in the chicken stock and return to a simmer. Using a fork, stir in the butter and flour mixture in small bits until it is well combined and the sauce is slightly thickened. Bring the sauce back to a simmer.

Add the sausages to the pan, turning to coat with the sauce. Cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce is nice and thick. The cooking time is important to blend the flavors of the sausages and peppers and to mellow the sharpness of the wine and taste of the flower. If the sauce starts to get too thick before this time is up then just stir in hot water a splash or two at a time. If you didn’t add a red chili with the green pepper then you might want to add a few dashes of Tabasco sauce just a minute or two before it’s done cooking to give the sauce a peppery feistyness (don’t make it hot though, you’re going for mild here).

Serve garnished with the chopped fresh herbs. This dish is fantastic when spooned over grits (for my Southern readers) or polenta (for my European readers). Sauteed rocket and baby greens or a fresh salad make a great accompaniment.

Here’s a secret to some of my best gravies and sauces, a toasted garlic roux. Adding a bit of minced garlic to the roux just gives it that extra something. Use it as a base for just about any sauce you like: gravy made with drippings from a roast, tomato based creole, or a basic white sauce with milk.

To make simply add 1 part butter to 1 part plain flour in a heavy skillet (I only use cast iron) and stir often with a wooden spoon for 10-15 minutes. Then add some minced fresh garlic and cook for 5 minutes or so until the garlic is as brown and toasty as the roux. When the roux is nice and brown (like in the photo) slowly stir in your liquid, bring to a simmer and reduce until the desired thickness is reached. I included a photo to show you how brown I like to toast this roux. This colour is what the Cajuns call a peanut butter roux which is in between the blond and the dark.

Tonight I used this roux to thicken the drippings and deglasing liquid from a roasted chicken. I used about 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of flour, and a heaping teaspoon and a half of minced garlic. The liquid amounted to about 500 ml. I reduced it by about 1/3, steeped in a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary for a few minutes and seasoned with salt and pepper.