[USA] Chicken Sausage with Sun-Dried tomatoes, Basil, Cheese

NorCal Kid · Post by **NorCal Kid** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 21:44

I picked up something like 20 lbs of boned chicken thighs at the local market (89 a pound!). So now its time for some chicken sausage! The boys aren't crazy about chicken thighs (nor am I), so making sausage with the chicken is a good deal.

I'll be making a small batch of the Thai-style chicken sausage I've made several times before (see ingredients here if you want to try the Thai: [URL=http://]http://www.wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5166[/URL] ), but I wanted to try something NEW as well. I read several chicken recipes and decided to create a version with some of the 'italian' ingredients I had on hand. so here's my go at...
"Chicken Sausage with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Basil & Parmesan Cheese"

First the ingredients: I took the sun-dried tomatoes and soaked/marinated them for about 3 days in a good italian olive oil. The oil will pick up an orange hue & some of the 'tang' from the tomatoes. The tomatoes soften nicely. Chop 'em fine before adding them to the mix.
Heres all the stuff:

Oh, and the chicken....
I ground up about 8.5 pound of the thighs; half of them had skin so in went the skin as well...

I separated the ground chicken into two bowls and added the ingredients to each. Hand-mixed both until a sticky paste formed.
For the Thai-style sausage, I'm using 22mm natural sheep casings; for the other: 32mm pork casings.

All stuffed & ready to go:

Nice color on the NEW sausages...

I warmed up the poacher as I prefer to pre-cook all my chicken sausage. 165° and into the bath goes the larger links. These will cook for about 25 minutes until an IT of 165° is reached.

The Thai-style sausages took about 15 minutes due to the smaller diameter.

SAMPLE time for the NEW sausage:
A nicely-spiced, juicy, flavorful chicken sausage.
These would go great with pasta & good marinara sauce. Garlicky, with an nice herbal basil flavor and the tang of the SD tomatoes is terrific! The nutmeg & allspice really compliment the basil. I'm quite happy with these! My wife likes them better than the Thai-style;which used to be her favorite.

Here's a slice shot:

The overall color should or would be a bit darker when these are grilled or browned in a pan. As they are pictured, they've only been lightly poached.
A very tasty sausage, none-the-less!

If you're interested in trying these, here's the recipe I used:

Chicken Sausage
with Basil, Cheese & Sun-Dried tomatoes
Makes 5 pounds

4.75 lbs Chicken thighs & skins (2150 g)
1/2 cup fresh garlic, finely-chopped (60g)
2/3 cup fresh basil, chopped (40g)
4 tsp Kosher salt (30g)
1 Tbl Black pepper (7.2g)
1 tsp Nutmeg (2.2g)
1/2 tsp Allspice (1.0g)
2/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, whole (90g)**
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded (55g)
1/3 cup olive oil**
** soak sun-dried tomatoes in the olive oil for 2-3 days, room temp. Chop tomatoes into small pieces before mixing into meat
32mm hog casings

1. First, partially freeze the chicken before grinding it. This will help ensure a good grind with no smearing. Next, take all the chicken thighs (plus the skins) and grind them using a medium plate.
2. In a large bowl, introduce both the dry and wet ingredients into the ground chicken. It is important to mix thoroughly until the meat forms a 'sticky' paste. This extra effort ensures a good, cohesive texture in the final sausage as there are no added binders used in this recipe.
3. Now is an ideal time to fry a sample to adjust seasoning, if necessary.
4. If the seasoning is a-okay, the next step is to stuff the links. One can use any diameter casing (or if one prefers, make simple patties to fry up). I used 32mm natural hog casings, tied off at 5-inch lengths.
5. Now you're ready to grill or fry, serve in your favorite red sauce; or simply poach in warm (165°) water for later use. I poach 'em so the boys can heat 'em up quickly anytime they have a hankerin' for some tasty chicken sausages!

Enjoy!

Kevin

IdaKraut · Post by **IdaKraut** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 21:55

My mouth is watering looking at those finished pics. Again, your pictures are wonderful and your details are well done. I'm not crazy about fowl sausage, but your recipe is very tempting.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 01:32

That is a wonderful way to use a bargain priced meat that you would purchase otherwise. The sausage look very desirable. Well done.

Big Guy · Post by **Big Guy** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 01:53

Nice work, I've tried chicken sausage and am not a big fan. I prefer at least 50% pork, every one has his own tastes. Keep up the good work.

Post by **redzed** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 03:30

Quite inspiring! Makes me want to run out and get some chicken. Our chicken prices in Canada are a heck of of a lot higher than what you guys get below the the 49th.

NorCal Kid · Post by **NorCal Kid** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 04:38

Big Guy wrote:Nice work, I've tried chicken sausage and am not a big fan. I prefer at least 50% pork, every one has his own tastes. Keep up the good work.

The nice aspect of using chicken in sausage is the very mild flavor. So essentially, it (the chicken) becomes a 'blank canvas' upon which to add a variety of seasonings that you know will stand out. The key is not making the sausage too dry (lean)! Dry + bland meat = a bad sausage.

I was pleased how moist and juicy these turned out being considering there's probably less than 20% fat content; a portion from added olive oil. Juicy=flavor.
My sons had some late last night, another had some for breakfast. For dinner tonight, we had some grilled with GF rigatoni & a nice home made marinara.
Probably have some of these thai sausages tomorrow.

Kevin

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 07:04

Wow! As always Kevin... very nice indeed. Have you taught your boys all the tricks you know about sausage making? They are probably pretty good themselves aren't they? How about a photo of "your crew"?

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 14:53

Those look great, we love chicken sausage. I've had my dehydrator going non-stop for three days drying vine-ripe tomatoes I picked up for 78≠ a pound. Went to Safeway yesterday and got 30lbs of chicken thighs for 99≠lb, usually nets out right about 23 pounds of meat and skin after deboning. I've been using the pre-mixed Italian seasoning for 25lbs from PS Seasonings, along with a couple cups of white wine, a couple of baggies of dried tomatoes, and three cans of black olives.

I rehydrate the tomatoes in hot water for about 15 minutes, drain the juice from the black olives, run everything thru the course plate on my grinder, and then into the mixer for about three minutes of excersise

Stuff into the 32-35mm hog casings that come with the seasoning kit, the on/off foot pedal makes all the difference for me

We get the same repeatable flavor every time, a nice juicy sausage that goes over the coals on a weber for three minutes a side, then let them sweat for 3-4 minutes indirect. It's a nice change from pork occasionally, and the difference in calories and chloresterol is quite substantial. This will be the last batch of fresh sausage for the near future, the new smoker arrived a couple days ago.

Post by **redzed** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 15:16

Nice job on the chicken sausage. 23 lbs of sausage meat from 30 lbs of thighs is an excellent yield! I have a couple of boxes of turkey legs in the freezer and once I get some time will have to transform them into sausage. The addition of dried tomatoes is interesting.

Chris

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Thu Aug 23, 2012 00:06

Very nice indeed! And did you notice ol' sawhorse even mounted his mixer to a sawhorse! Hmmm.... I wonder if he puts a sawhorse on his real horse just to ride him? Sort of a sawhorse saddle eh?

Great sausage Ray!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon