Merry Christmas and Brunch
December 24, 2013 • Breakfast, Meat & Poultry
Are you getting ready? Christmas is a magical time of year, and I hope you are spending it with your close family and friends. What are your traditions? Do you gather on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day? Do you keep to a small group of just family, or do you like to widen the circle? This will actually be the first year that I don’t have all of my kids home for the holiday – something that I know happens to all of us eventually, but something I was still unprepared for. I’m still missing my favorite Santa (my dad who passed away last year), and so I let myself have a good cry last night. But this morning I woke up and began what I do best to cope: started cooking.
You probably have your Christmas dinner already figured out, but let me share a very quick and simple recipe that you might want to prepare today and just heat up tomorrow morning during the unwrapping frenzy. When I started getting a hog directly from my CO CSA farm, I began asking for the ground meat simply as ground meat, not already prepared sausage. That leaves me more flexibility in how I might end up using the meat, but it also leaves me to figure out my own sausage. Fortunately, that is simple and takes less time and ingredients than making meatballs. You can stuff this mixture into casings if you like, or simply shape into logs or patties like I do. Merry Christmas and enjoy!
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 tablespoon ground sage
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon dill (optional)
- Combing the pork with all of the seasonings in a bowl until well mixed. Shape into patties or logs, or stuff into casings. Sear in a skillet over medium heat until cooked through, about 5 minutes total, turning as needed. Drain on paper towels.