Sweet Italian Sausage with Apple & Fennel Seed

     As I mentioned in my last post, J.T. and I just celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary.  Over the weekend, we took a quick getaway trip to Orange Beach.  One thing that we were most looking forward to about the trip was the food – seafood to be exact.  I didn’t grow up eating a lot of seafood and neither did J.T.  We decided to be a little adventurous with our menu selections (he was definitely more adventurous than me).  Between the two of us, we ate flounder, stuffed crab, crab claws, shrimp, scallops, snowcrab, royal reds, and crawfish.  The best place we ate was The Gumbo Shack, located in Fairhope, Alabama and featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  They had the best gumbo I have ever tasted!  After stuffing ourselves with seafood for two days, we finished off our trip with a grass feed hamburger from Lulu’s.  J.T. could teach Lulu a thing or two about cooking a hamburger!  I enjoyed our time eating out, but I was ready for a home cooked meal after our vacation.  For our first meal back, I cooked Sweet Italian Sausage with Apple & Fennel Seed.  This hearty meal of sausage and white beans is a quick and easy supper for a cold weekday evening. 

 Recipe adapted from Poor Girl Gourmet

Ingredients

·         1 teaspoon fennel seeds

·         3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

·         1 medium sweet onion, chopped

·         4 links sweet Italian chicken sausage, casings removed, and cut into 1 – inch pieces

·         ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

·         ½ cup water

·         1 Granny Smith apple, finely diced

·         ½ pound great northern beans, cooked (or 2 – 15 ounce cans)

·         1 teaspoon kosher salt

·         ½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Directions

1.      Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat.  Toast the fennel seeds for exactly 2 minutes, stirring the seeds around the pan constantly.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

2.      In the same pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes, or until they begin to turn translucent.  Add the sausage to the pan and cook until it is nicely browned, at least 10 minutes.  Sprinkle in the crushed red pepper flakes and pour in the water.  Scrape any browned bits up from the bottom of the pan.

3.      Add the toasted fennel seeds, apples, and beans.  Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.  The bright green apple skin should turn a pale green.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serves 4 large portions.  

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