We had three different types of sausage options when I spoke with the processor. After a quick consult with Steve, we got all three. Last week, I finally got around to cooking with the one marked Sausage. This was essentially plain ground pork. It came packed in two squares. I decided to dip my toes into the sausage pool slowly and just defrost one package.
Holly and I tossed around many different things to do with it. Wanting to be a purist, I just wanted to simply cook it the first time around to see what it tasted like. The scientific baseline approach I guess. Holly had meatballs on the brain. I can't wait to test her approach.
After getting the polenta going, I browned up some of the sausage and threw in some chopped kale. After a sort simmer with salt, pepper and garlic, the contents of the two pots met up in a bowl. A little left over tomato sauce on the polenta. Lunch was served.
The combination was wonderful.The kale was not cooked to death limp but still had some texture to it. The liquid added flavor to the creamy corn. However, the sausage on its own was rather tasteless to me. It almost reminded me of ground beef. Not happy with this result, I took the little bit of uncooked ground pork and mixed in some seasoning. I folded in some ground mustard, thyme, sage, and garlic. This made some tasty little patties. So tasty they did't even make it to a photo shoot.
Lesson learned: the ground pork needs a running mate. On its own it will never win an election. To carry the analogy further, spend time on the platform too. Holly's meatball idea should make for a Super Tuesday (or at least Fat Tuesday).
