Dancing Spoon

Roast Sausage & Fennel

Fare Winter

by David Shepherd

Roast Sausage & Fennel
This recipe is a no-name mid-winter weekend comfort food special (think Sunday Football in front of the TV), ideal for being a fast, one-pot prep, ready to roast in the time it takes you to chop. Nothing fancy here, not a lot of thought required; the ingredients are left deliberately chunky, cacciatore style. The fennel is what separates this dish from an otherwise fairly typical preparation. Roasting it releases a subtle sweetness, a pleasing counterpoint to the licorice flavors this vegetable is known for, as well as to the boldness of the hot sausage. Overall, the roasting time gives you to the time to get ready for the big game. If you've got a crowd coming, over double the recipe. Use a disposable roasting pan for easy post-game clean-up.

Ingredients
Serves 2-4.

3-4 small to medium Yukon Gold potatoes
1 lb. good-quality Italian sausages (a mix of hot and sweet is good)
1 small fennel bulb, stalks discarded, trimmed
1 small red pepper
1 small zucchini
1 small Valida onion (though yellows or Spanish will suffice)
4-5 oz. large whole mushrooms
3-4 large garlic cloves
3-4 tablespoons of cooking-quality olive oil
Dried Italian seasoning
Dried rubbed sage
Dried rosemary
Salt, pepper

Pre-heat oven to 400°

1. Rough-peel the potatoes, if at all. Slice into thick steak-fry shape. Repeat with the fennel, and the pepper and zucchini. Cut sausage links into 1” pieces. Cut mushrooms into thick slices. Coarsely chop garlic and slice onion. Tranfser the pile into a very lightly oiled roasting pan (I take a quick wipe with a paper towel moistened with olive oil; a light spritz of an olive oil cooking spray would also work) large enough to hold everything (I use a large glass Pyrex, but any roasting pan will do); make sure all ingredients are more or less evenly distributed. Season with salt, pepper and very healthy pinches of dried herbs to taste.

2. Drizzle with olive oil; do not stir to mix. (Note: you could hold out the zucchini and perhaps the mushrooms as well for the first 20 minutes or so of roasting, because they’re not as robust as the other items. But it’s not absolutely necessary. The zuke will break down a bit, but remember, this is a no-worries dish, so who cares?)

3. Place pan on rack in center of oven. Roast for 30-35 minutes, remove, stir ingredients, loosening any that might be sticking to the pan, return to the oven for another 40 minutes. Roasting time is dependent on your oven, of course. Figure 75 minutes, and adjust accordingly. Everything should be nicely browned and crisped at the edges of the pan.

4. Remove, let it sit for 5-10 minutes; just slightly cooled, more of the flavors become noticeable, I think. Serve with a nice big hunk of crusty Italian bread, a glass of a simple quaffing red, and you’re in business.

This dish is fine as it is, and, despite the potatoes, it makes a great sandwich, too, on that same loaf of Italian. It’s also open to interpretation: substitute something, if you’d like--green pepper for the red, change up the seasonings, add a dash of red pepper flakes for extra heat, maybe toss in some chopped black olives 15 minutes before roasting is complete. As I said, it’s a casual dish. Truth of it is, the leftovers are probably better in flavor than when everything first comes out of the oven, but you’ll be hard-pressed to leave enough left over to find out.

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Recipe: Roast Fennel

Anise You Say

by David Shepherd

Defennelestrated
Starting out as a waiter many years ago (too many now), I was admittedly unfamiliar with certain foods, provincial, naive lad that I was back then. Despite this lack of experience, relying only on my unlimited charm and a wicked grin, I was able to catch on w/a top-flight establishment in Boston noted for its eclectic, adventurous menu. One evening’s special featured oven-roasted anise, more commonly referred to as fennel, which at that time (the dawning of the ‘foodie’ movement here in the States) was still a fairly exotic ingredient. While reciting the dish to a party of six swells who were in obvious anticipation of a night of epicurean delights, you might say I flubbed my line, announcing that the lamb shank “would be served with a side of roast anus.” To which one of my customers instantly replied, “Having trouble selling a lot of that one, are you?”

Needless to say, the embarrassment factor was acute (mine; theirs was a smirking sort of mirth) for the remainder of the meal. The recovery period was long, and only now can I again comfortably consider anise, I mean, fennel, when preparing a meal.

Recipe: It's a Piece of (Crab) Cake

Cakes Crab

by David Shepherd

I’ve served these crab cakes to a waterman and foodie from the Maryland shore of the Chesapeake who proclaimed these “the best crab cakes I ever et.” High praise indeed.

Ingredients
1 can (14 oz) good quality crabmeat. See Notes below.
1 can (10 oz) of vac-pac corn niblets.
1 small to medium red pepper, roasted (I find the jarred varieties are too wet and mushy).
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Good hefty pinches of dried: basil, oregano, rosemary, etc., to taste. (To save a little time I’ve also used Italian seasoning to good effect. You can use fresh herbs too, but double the amounts at the very minimum, fresh being less potent than dried.)

Shep's Grilled Turkey

Grilling Summer/Winter

David Shepherd sent this recipe to me. Shep is an old friend, a foodie, an avid fisherman, and will brave the New England winters to grill up a turkey for a mid-winter’s feast.

First step for the bird is a 24-hour spicy brine. Then the turkey is coated with a BBQ sauce-based marinade and allowed to rest for another 24 hours. Grilling time: the turkey is browned on the grill and cooked with the indirect heating method.