My New Creation: Porcini-Cabernet Sausage

Butcher Son came home from his new gig in the meat department at Roberts of Woodside the other day asking about new flavors of sausages for them to make. I gave this some thought and came up with several, most of which he shot down. Hrmmpph, see if I help him again. But I did. I actually decided to make one of my own suggestions this week, a Porcini-Cabernet Sausage. I thought it wouldn’t be too terribly difficult to figure out amounts and ingredients, not too expensive to make, and would be a great accompaniment to a pasta dish. So yesterday, after having baked too many loaves of banana and pumpkin breads, I sliced some up, packed it in with some homemade Peach/Ginger Butter and headed up to Roberts to barter for some sausage casings. Needless to say, they were happy to oblige. (They had already learned I make a mean pickle and some kick-ass cinnamon rolls.)

So today, I embarked on my first-ever excursion to develop a recipe for sausage. I got out my two buck Chuck, went and harvested some fresh thyme from my backyard, and set to work. It wasn’t too hard, and came together without so much as a hiccup. I fried up a test batch before casing it, and sure enough, it was very tasty. So this afternoon, we set up my fifteen-year-old Kitchen Aid mixer with the grinder and sausage attachments and made up some links. While I have not cooked them yet, I have faith, and so does my son…he took three of them up to the store for the owner and butchers to taste.

Porcini-Cabernet Sausage

1 oz dried porcini
2 cups cabernet sauvignon (I used Two Buck Chuck)
2 lbs ground pork
2 t fresh thyme
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 t coarse salt
1 t coarse black pepper
Optional: 1 cup shredded parmesan or asiago cheese

Heat wine to boil and take off heat. Add porcini and soak for 30-60 minutes. Remove porcini and bring remaining wine to a boil, reducing to ½ cup. Cool (use ice water bath to shorten cooling time). Finely chop porcini. In large bowl, mix pork, porcini, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper, as well as the reduced ½ cup of wine. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for 2 hours. Stuff into casings. Refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze.

To cook, fry in a bit of oil until brown on all sides, then add in ½ cup of water and cover. Cook until water boils away. Serve.