So you've made yourself a whole ton of breakfast links and you're wondering: WHAT THE HECK DO I DO WITH THEM?!?
Well, if you're like me, you eat them for dinner with an easy batch of Dirty Rice. The pics below show me using some chopped up links, but you can do the exact same recipie with loose breakfast sausage.
The only equipment that you might want (it really helps) is a good sized nonstick electric skillet. If you have one, you can mostly walk away from this and let it do most of the work. I use mine all the time. Got it at Target for $30 and the pan itself can go right into the dishwasher. The recipie below makes a great side for a crowd, especially if you are using the rest of the kitchen for other stuff (i.e. Thanksgiving dinner)
Princess' Dirty Rice - Serves 20 as a side, 12 as a main dish
Start to finish in 65 minutes.
3 lb pork sausage links, chopped
1 medium-large onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
1 large green pepper, seeded and diced
4 cans low sodium beef broth (save the cans!)
4 "cans" of real medium grain white rice (no Minute rice!!) a small bag will do
a shake or two of salt
1/2 TB fresh ground black pepper (or more, if you like)
1/2 TB red pepper (or more, if you like)
1 tsp ground thyme
1/2 TB oregano
1 TB dried mustard
1 TB cumin
Serve with shredded cheese & cornbread
First up, chop your links and drop them into the electric skillet at 350. While you are browning your links, you can do all the other chopping and measuring.
I like them good and brown.
It is okay to throw all your veggies and seasonings into one bowl as you prep them. You're going to dump them all in at the same time.
Pour the seasonings and veggies in on top of the sausage.
Give it a bit of a stir and let those veggies sweat for just a minute or two while you carefully open all four cans of beef broth, all the way. Add the broth to the skillet. You will be using the cans themselves to measure rice and water, so don't throw them away just yet.
Measure our four cans of rice. You got REAL rice, right? No Minute Rice allowed here!!
Add those cans of rice in. The skillet is starting to look real full by now...
Add in four cans of water. If your skillet is too small to get it all in, you may have to wait for it to cook down some before adding in the last can or two. My skillet *just* barely fits all four. Give it a stir... then walk away. Go clean your kitchen. Go cook something else. Read the paper. You're not coming back for at least 30 minutes...
That's a full skillet...
After thirty minutes, come back to it and take a peek. Give it a stir. It should be smelling very very good and the rice should start doing that magic absorption thing that REAL rice does.
Go do something else for another fifteen minutes. Set the table. Kiss your spouse.
At 45 minutes, it should definately start to thicken up. You want to hang out near the skillet now, giving a stir every so often so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. You also want to get the moisture redistributed.
You can see a real change begin to occur over the next few minutes. The pic below was taken just five minutes after the one above it. Much thicker.
At fifty-five minutes, it also is a good idea to check for doneness. We know our sausage is cooked, but let's look for liquid. When cooking rice with a lid off, the best thing I have found is to stir it real good, then push and look for juice. See juice? Keep cooking.
Sixty minutes is just about perfect, timing wise.
Little to no juice? Cool. Give it a taste test: is the rice tender? You're done cooking.
Toss it into a bowl, top with cheese if you like (I have a nice dusting of white cheddar here) and enjoy!!
Let me know if you try it and what you think?
Cheers!
-Princess
The only equipment that you might want (it really helps) is a good sized nonstick electric skillet. If you have one, you can mostly walk away from this and let it do most of the work. I use mine all the time. Got it at Target for $30 and the pan itself can go right into the dishwasher. The recipie below makes a great side for a crowd, especially if you are using the rest of the kitchen for other stuff (i.e. Thanksgiving dinner)
Princess' Dirty Rice - Serves 20 as a side, 12 as a main dish
Start to finish in 65 minutes.
3 lb pork sausage links, chopped
1 medium-large onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
1 large green pepper, seeded and diced
4 cans low sodium beef broth (save the cans!)
4 "cans" of real medium grain white rice (no Minute rice!!) a small bag will do
a shake or two of salt
1/2 TB fresh ground black pepper (or more, if you like)
1/2 TB red pepper (or more, if you like)
1 tsp ground thyme
1/2 TB oregano
1 TB dried mustard
1 TB cumin
Serve with shredded cheese & cornbread
First up, chop your links and drop them into the electric skillet at 350. While you are browning your links, you can do all the other chopping and measuring.
I like them good and brown.
It is okay to throw all your veggies and seasonings into one bowl as you prep them. You're going to dump them all in at the same time.
Pour the seasonings and veggies in on top of the sausage.
Give it a bit of a stir and let those veggies sweat for just a minute or two while you carefully open all four cans of beef broth, all the way. Add the broth to the skillet. You will be using the cans themselves to measure rice and water, so don't throw them away just yet.
Measure our four cans of rice. You got REAL rice, right? No Minute Rice allowed here!!
Add those cans of rice in. The skillet is starting to look real full by now...
Add in four cans of water. If your skillet is too small to get it all in, you may have to wait for it to cook down some before adding in the last can or two. My skillet *just* barely fits all four. Give it a stir... then walk away. Go clean your kitchen. Go cook something else. Read the paper. You're not coming back for at least 30 minutes...
That's a full skillet...
After thirty minutes, come back to it and take a peek. Give it a stir. It should be smelling very very good and the rice should start doing that magic absorption thing that REAL rice does.
Go do something else for another fifteen minutes. Set the table. Kiss your spouse.
At 45 minutes, it should definately start to thicken up. You want to hang out near the skillet now, giving a stir every so often so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. You also want to get the moisture redistributed.
You can see a real change begin to occur over the next few minutes. The pic below was taken just five minutes after the one above it. Much thicker.
At fifty-five minutes, it also is a good idea to check for doneness. We know our sausage is cooked, but let's look for liquid. When cooking rice with a lid off, the best thing I have found is to stir it real good, then push and look for juice. See juice? Keep cooking.
Sixty minutes is just about perfect, timing wise.
Little to no juice? Cool. Give it a taste test: is the rice tender? You're done cooking.
Toss it into a bowl, top with cheese if you like (I have a nice dusting of white cheddar here) and enjoy!!
Let me know if you try it and what you think?
Cheers!
-Princess
