[1] [2] [3]  

Some foods in particular lend themselves to cooking with others — making [4] pasta is one, canning’s another, and now sausage joins the list. A recent adult ed [5] class in Kittery had a group of us soon churning out links a plenty amidst much understandably sophomoric humor. The surprise winner of the evening’s tasting was the chicken sausage. 

Chicken & Sun-Dried Tomato Sausage

5 pounds chicken meat, with skin, coarsely ground (1/4 inch plate)

12 ounces minced onion

7 ounces sun dried tomatoes

2 tablespoons coriander seeds, ground

2 tablespoons dried rosemary, ground

2 tablespoons dried oregano, crushed

1 tablespoon celery seed

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well blended. Stuff into hog casings for links, or shape into patties. Patties or links may be cooked by browning in a skillet. Will keep refrigerated for 3 days, or frozen for 2 months.

Tips:

- Keep ingredients cold, especially meat, and work with it while still cold, particularly when grinding.

- The original recipe calls for chicken thighs. Since locally sourced chicken tends to come whole, use both white and dark meat. When grinding chicken meat for sausage, including the skin improves the texture as well as flavor.

- Let sausage sit for 24 hours before cooking to allow flavors to develop and meld, and the texture to set.

- Casing can be found through local butchers or through mail/online order. Please leave a comment if you know of casing from local sources.

Sausage Club

Lucas, the teacher of the class, learned his way around ground meat from a workshop he took with John “Popper” Medlin, of [6] Popper’s Kitchen. If stuffing casing isn’t your thing, fresh sausage, as well as other porky delicacies, can be ordered directly through Popper’s [7] Sausage Club — place your order via email by the 3rd Wednesday of the month, with pick-up at various locations. This month the last day to order is Wednesday, March 24th, pick-up is scheduled for Saturday, March 27th, at the [8] Winter Farmers’ Market in Rollinsford. He’ll have your order ready at Kellie Brook Farm’s booth.

*Special thanks to Chrissy for her photos!