We made this savory fall stew recipe from Martha Stewart. It turned out quite well, though I would make some modifications to the recipe if I were to do it again.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 12 ounces hot Italian sausage (we used turkey sage breakfast sausage)
- 12 cipollini onions (pearl onions can be substituted), peeled
- 1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
- 3 cups homemade or low-sodium chicken stock, skimmed of fat
- One 1/2-ounce bundle of fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, or oregano (we used rosemary, thyme, oregano and tarragon)
- One 2 1/2-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2-inch-long sticks
- 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
- 12 brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add sausage, and cook, stirring until it breaks into small pieces and is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Remove sausage with slotted spoon, and set aside.
- Pour off all but 2 tablespoons rendered fat, and discard. Raise heat to medium high, add onions, and cook, stirring, until golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Add tomatoes, stock, and herbs; simmer over medium heat until liquid starts to thicken, 20 to 25 minutes. Add sausage, squash, carrots, parsnips, and fennel; cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add brussels sprouts, and cook, covered, about 5 minutes more. Remove cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid thickens, 10 to 15 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.
Comments
We also added a can of chestnuts to this, and cooked a little bit of bacon with the onions.
If we made this again, I personally would think about leaving out the parsnips and the fennel. I generally like parsnips and fennel, but they just don't seem to fit the other flavors as well. Trina would keep the parsnips and fennel, but get rid of the brussels sprouts, so you can just try a couple things and see how you like it :) I would also add about another 10 minutes cooking time to the end of this, with everything in the pot, as most of the vegetables were still pretty hard by the time we finished the times in the recipe. Just check your vegetables to make sure they are at a consistency you like.
I *highly* recommend cipollini onions if you can possibly get them. Pearl onions are smaller, therefore you need more of them, and they are also harder to peel, so it results in a *lot* of work peeling onions, which is not really fun.
To make vegetarian, you could use vegetable broth, and maybe add some mushrooms rather than sausage (or some veggie sausage product) if you wanted to darken up the flavor a bit.
We also grated a little bit of fresh real parmesan on top after dishing it up, and that both adds to the aesthetic a bit, plus it smells fantastic and tastes wonderful.
------
Posts
