Italian Sausage with Grapes & Herbs
This recipe comes from the cookbook, Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well by Pellegrino Artusi, originally published in 1871. It's a book well-known in Italian home kitchens, but new to me! Emiko Davies, a cookbook author living in Artusi's Florence, quotes: "His three-sentence ‘recipe’ for salsicce coll’uva starts charmingly with “It is a trivial and ordinary dish, but I note it because the sausage, with that sweetness of the grapes could be to someone’s liking.”
Ingredients
FOR THE SAUSAGES
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1½ teaspoons coarsely ground fennel seeds use a mortar and pestle
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon garlic very finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon dry white wine
FOR THE DISH
- 1 bunch red grapes about ½-¾ pounds
- ¼ cup white wine or water
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Instructions
FOR THE SAUSAGES
- Combine all the ingredients and mix together very well. Form into 8 {2½-inch} patties. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to all the flavors to come together. Patties can definitely be made ahead and can also be frozen at this point.
FOR THE DISH
- Brown the sausages on both sides, releasing some of the fat, and cook through. Move them to the side after you've turned them over.
- Add the grapes and the rosemary and cook till the grapes are puffed and a little blistered.
- Add the wine or water and reduce it, being sure to keep a bit of liquid in the pan.
- Serve two patties for each person with crusty bread and something green like sauteed spinach. OR like I did ... with polenta.
Notes
In the US, Italian sausages come in all sizes so choose however many you need to feed the people you are serving, then scale the other ingredients.
I like purchasing pre-made Italian sausages because I like them in casings. But I don't mind not having them either and actually enjoy the flavor of homemade sausage better! So, this recipe is rewritten to include homemade sausage ... in the form of patties.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!