Thursday, December 29, 2011

Cider-Glazed Chicken Sausages with Butternut Mash

I love cooking magazines, but I hate to have clutter all over my house, so I have started ripping out all of the recipes that interest me in Cook's Illustrated, Cooking Light, America's Test Kitchen, and Everyday Food, scanning them, and saving the PDFs. I now have a gigantic recipes folder on my laptop that gives me an absurd amount of pleasure. I'm on holiday break this week and I finally cracked open this ever-expanding file to make something.

I have been wanting to try this recipe since the beginning of autumn...I'm only a few months late.  It was a perfect cold weather dinner, my friends. I couldn't seem to get an appetizing looking picture of my final product, but I will try again the next time I make it.  Here is the picture from Everyday Food's blog -->

My plate looked a bit soupier than this, but every bit as tasty as this one looks. This is a really easy 'meat and potatoes' meal to add to the table. I think that people with more traditional palates than mine would also love it, so it would be a great comfort food to serve when parents or other relatives are stopping by.

Original Inspiration:  Everyday Food
Serving Size: 4
WW: 10 pointsplus per serving

Ingredients: 

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1" wedges
1 pound raw chicken sausage (Ideally 4 links - not the pre-cooked kind. I bought mild Italian chicken sausage at the butcher's counter. Any mild flavor would work well.)
7 fresh sage leaves
3 cups apple cider
1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 large granny smith apple, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1/3 cup greek yogurt (I used 0% Fage)
1 tablespoon brown sugar (if needed)

Method:

In a large, heavy-bottomed skillet or a small dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sausages to the pan and cook until the sausages are golden brown (about 6 minutes). Turn the sausages and stir the onions every 2-3 minutes.  Add sage and cider to the pot, and season with salt and pepper.  Bring to a rapid simmer and let it cook until the cider is syrupy, which should take about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the squash, apple, and potato in a medium saucepan and cover by at least 2 inches of water. Bring the vegetables to a controlled boil at medium-high heat and let them cook until tender (around 15 minutes).

Drain the vegetables and add them to your food processor with greek yogurt, salt, and pepper.  Pulse until blended and then taste. Adjust the seasoning, if needed. My granny smith apple was really tart, so I had to add a bit of brown sugar at this point. You don't want to make the mash sweet, because the cider you add on top will bring a lot of sweetness, but just make sure that it isn't too tart.

Divide the butternut mash onto four plates (or 2 plates and 2 storage containers, like in my house) and top with a chicken sausage, onions, and a healthy amount of cider 'gravy'.

Enjoy!

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