Tag Archives: italian food

Sardinian Sausage | Salsiccia Fresca | S’Artizzu

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Sardinian Sausage

Also known as “Salsiccia Fresca” or S’Artizzu (its sardinian name)

Sardinian Sausage Cooked | Salsiccia Fresca | S'Artizzu

These Sardinian delights are one of the many things I relish tucking into whenever we visit family in Sardinia.  As they’re impossible to get over here, I almost get withdrawal symptoms, so I decided to take the plunge and make some myself.

I looked for recipes online and, as they’re such an artisanal product, it was difficult to find an actual recipe, but at least it gave me the basic idea of what ingredients I needed to include.  I’ve then played with the quantities until I (and hubby) was satisfied that the flavour was as close as we could get it to the ones we have eaten in Sardinia.

The unique flavour of these sausages comes from aniseed (though fennel seeds are used interchangeably, depending on who is making the sausages).  I found it quite tricky to find aniseed (which surprised me!), so I made these with fennel seeds.

In Sardinia, you would buy S’Artizzu (sardinian sausage) in huge rings to cook over a barbecue, then chop it up once cooked into smaller pieces to to serve on a big platter for everyone to help themselves.  The quantities indicated below would make approximately 2 such giant rings, or 12-16 smaller individual portion rings (depending on the size of the rings).sardinian sausage ring

Hubby and I used natural sausage casings we bought from a lovely butcher at Doncaster market, though it was really hard work to thread these onto the nozzle on the sausage-making kit on our mixer.  Next time, we’ll try using natural casings bought on a spool.  I’ve found a site that sells them HERE.

Ingredients

  • Sausage Casings: Natural Sheep (thin, for chippolata sausages)
  • 1.7kg fatty pork meat (we used a mixture of pork belly and pork shoulder)
  • 3tsp fennel seeds (or aniseed if you can find it), crushed with a pestle & mortar
  • 2tsp fine sea salt
  • a good dash of freshly ground black pepper
  • 5 cloves of garlic (very finely chopped or put them through the mincer with the meat)
  • a good dash of dry white whine (approx. 80ml)

Sardinian Sausage Cooked | Salsiccia Fresca | S'Artizzu

Method

Ask your butcher to take the rind off the pork but leave as much of the fat on as possible, then chop the meat into chunks you can feed through your mincer (grinder).

Mix the meat chunks, fennel seeds, salt, pepper and peeled garlic cloves in a big bowl (you can leave these to marinate/infuse the flavours for a couple of hours if you like)

Put the seasoned meat & garlic cloves through your mincer on the biggest/chunkiest setting (Italian sausages tend to have a coarser texture than many British ones)

Add the wine to the minced meat mixture and mix well by hand (don’t over-work the mixture, but make sure the flavours are evenly spread and the wine has been absorbed into the mixture)

Now the fun begins!! Feed the mixture into your sausage-maker loaded with a long length of thin natural casing and gently fill the casing.  Ideally, you want to make one long continuous length you can roll into a big ring (about the size of a dinner plate).

Before cooking, put 2 wooden/bamboo kebab sticks through the ring to form a cross, so that the ring will hold its shape on the barbecue.  Or, you can make smaller rings like we did, or even thin straight chippolatas (which, due to the casings breaking on us a LOT when we made these, we also ended up doing).  Grill, pan-fry, griddle or barbecue your sausages.  Freeze those you don’t need to use straight away.

Enjoy!!!

Gloriously Good (and aside from the stuffing of the casings…Gloriously Simple!) 😉

Pasta with Chicken, Vegetable and White Wine Sauce | Recipe | Low-fat food | Good Food | Low-fat Recipe | Italian Food

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Pasta with Chicken, Vegetable & White Wine Sauce

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 6

Ingredients

  • 600g short pasta, e.g. penne or conchiglie (pasta shells)
  • 300-350g Chicken thighs (boneless & skinless)
  • 2 fresh carrots
  • 2 fresh courgettes
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • 2 tsp olive oil (plus a drizzle for the pasta water)
  • sea salt / rock salt (ground) – to taste
  • coarse salt (about a small handful)
  • chilli flakes, ground

Method

  1. Finely chop onion, garlic, carrots, celery & courgettes
  2. Chop up the chicken into very small (approx 5mm) pieces
  3. Heat up 1tsp oil in a sauté pan, add onions & garlic, soften on a high heat and don’t be afraid to let them brown/caramelise a little for flavour
  4. Add the carrots, celery & courgettes
  5. While still on a high heat, season with salt & crushed chilli flakes, to taste
  6. Turn down the heat & put on a lid
  7. In a small frying pan/skillet, heat up 1 tsp oil, add the chicken, season with salt & chilli flakes, to taste. Brown but don’t cook through.
  8. Add the chicken to the vegetables in the sauté pan
  9. Turn up the heat, add 100ml white wine
  10. Stir and once it comes up to the boil, turn the heat down & place on the lid, leaving to simmer gently
  11. Leave to cook for approx. 20 mins, checking to ensure it doesn’t dry out.

While the sauce is cooking, cook your pasta ‘al dente’:

  • Place water into a large stockpot and put on a high heat (use a lid if you want it to boil faster)
  • Add a drizzle of olive or vegetable oil
  • Once the water comes up to the boil, add a small handful of coarse salt
  • Add the pasta to the boiling water, stir to ensure it moves freely in the water and doesn’t stick to itself
  • Keep it boiling at all times, on a high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure the pasta moves freely
  • Check whether it’s ready before the time indicated on the packet – ideally the pasta needs to still have ‘bite’ to it and not be too soft

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and quickly place it in a large bowl or back into the stockpot, then stir in the sauce & serve.

Gloriously Good!

For more recipes, tips & general foodie stuff, go to www.gloriouslygoodfood.com

Mamma’s remedy | food blog | recipe | good food

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When I was unwell as a child, my mum would give me boiled rice, but not just any boiled rice, oh no!

Risotto rice (e.g. Arborio or Carnaroli), boiled in ample salted water (not cooked like a risotto, but with all the water added at the start), then served with some of the starchy water (i.e. you don’t drain it),  a generous drop of olive oil, a knob of butter & tons of grated parmesan. Delicious and so comforting!

Now I’m an Italian Mamma myself, I’ve been doing the same with my kids when they’re not well (though if their tummies are the problem, I steer clear of the butter & parmesan, settling for just a tiny drop of olive oil for taste instead).

My eldest daughter Charlie, aged 14, is proving quite capable in the kitchen already and tends to cook her own rice when she’s not well.  It’s an instant feel-good remedy that’s becoming a family tradition, being passed down from generation to generation.  I can imagine my grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond enjoying the same comfort food when they’re unwell!

Try it – you’ll immediately feel like you’re getting a lovely warm hug!

For more recipes, tips & general foodie stuff, go to www.gloriouslygoodfood.com