BREAKFAST SAUSAGES

I have never made what could be called breakfast sausages before making this recipe. I have made meatballs, sliders and burgers all geared to lunch or supper, not breakfast. But I have bought breakfast sausages. I came across this recipe in the cookbook "Against all Grain" and decided to make it for a Sunday morning breakfast instead of making paleo style waffles or pancakes.

I used a one pound package of lean ground pork and bought pork that was organic grain fed. You can use lean ground chicken or turkey instead of pork. Having two sausages along with some slices of sautéed apple and bullet coffee was very filling. I used dried herbs as I didn't have fresh sage and I didn't have marjoram so I used herbes de Provence. I used one green apple for making the sautéed apple slices.

It is a great recipe and if you have the time to make them, it is much better to have these sausages than buying a store bought product. It doesn't require much time to mix up the meat, herb and spices and the cooking time is no different than that of a store bought product. Both the DH and I enjoyed this meal.

Apples and cinnamon sautéing in a pan.

Cooking the sausages.

Plated and ready to serve.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound lean ground pork
2 tsp chopped fresh sage or 1/2 tsp dried sage
2 tsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp marjoram or 1/2 tsp herbes de Provence
salt and pepper to taste

1 to 2 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 tsp cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the pork, herbs, maple syrup and spices in a mixing bowl. Heat a frying pan, non-stick if you have one, to medium high heat. Form the meat mixture into patties. I made eight patties and used my hands to shape them.

Fry the patties in the pan and flip over several times while cooking. It should take about 10 minutes. You can cook the apple slices in the same pan once the sausages are cooked. Remove the cooked sausages and place on a plate. Wipe the pan with a paper towel to remove any fine bits left from cooking the meat. Sauté the apples for 10 minutes with the cinnamon. Stir often. Add the meat during the last minute back to the pan to heat them up. Another option for cooking the apples is to sauté the apples and cinnamon in a separate pan with a little bit of butter. I did that while I was cooking the sausages. The recipe makes eight sausages.

Adapted from "Against all Grains".