I am moving from Hanoi, Vietnam to Paris in 8 days and OMG am I excited!!! That being said, I am trying to clean out my cupboard and eliminate some of the dry goods I have on hand before the movers get here to pack. This recipe caught my eye because it looked fairly simple plus I had an onion and polenta that need to be used. I am also sure that although cider may be better, I can defiantly find apple juice and sausage here. There are many kinds of sausages available here; however, being that I cannot read Vietnamese I am going to use klobasa sausage because it is familiar to me. This is going to change the way I prepare the sausage for this recipe by adding another step but I am willing and able. My extra step is outlined below but the recipe below was posted by Blake Royer on Serious Eats.com with my other additions/substitutions in italic.
ADDED STEP: Klobasa which has some course fat pieces in it vs. regular sausage which I want to melt rather than get hard so in a small pot I braised the links in 1 can of beef broth, 1/2 C apple juice, 2 T dried diced onion, 1 tsp ground sage. Low heat, cook covered for about 30 min. Then continue to cook uncovered until liquid is almost gone (save the remaining liquid to add to the water or chicken broth for the polenta). This successfully melted the pieces of fat within the links making a tender (you can cut with a spoon) sausage.
Ingredients
serves makes 4 servings, active time 20 minutes, total time 45 minutes (it took me longer but then I did add an extra step)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, cut into 1-inch wedges (I sliced in thinner rings)
- 1.5 pounds mild sausages, pork or turkey or chicken (Klobasa)
- 10 fresh sage leaves (2 tsp. dried sage,1 tsp. dried thyme, 1/2 tsp. dried Rosemary)
- 2 cups apple cider (1 1/2 apple juice)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup polenta
- 5 cups water (plus remaining beef broth liquid used to braise sausage in my added step)
- 1 can chicken broth
- 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
Procedures
- In a large (12-inch) skillet large enough to hold the sausages comfortably, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add sausages and cook, turning once, until they are a deep golden brown. Halfway through cooking, add onions to pan and toss to coat them in the oil.
- Add cider, sage leaves, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer quite rapidly until cider reduces into a glaze and coats the back of a spoon, about 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, bring water to boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Whisk in polenta in a slow stream, season with salt and pepper, and return to a boil. Turn heat to low and cook until water is absorbed and polenta is very soft. I added remaining braising liquid from my added step to the 5 cups of water for polenta, also added 1 can chicken broth as I was stirring polenta to thin it down when it got too thick. Recipe doesn’t mention but constantly stir polenta for about 30 min. to prevent sticking on bottom!
Enjoy…we sure did! ツ
- Stir in cheddar and season to taste.
- Divide polenta among bowls and top with sausages and onion. Spoon the pan liquid on top of the sausages and serve immediately.
