consider pork sausage conquered

take a moment to ponder the following phrase: "sausages with sherry caramel glazed pears." have you ever heard anything more wonderful in your life? it was even better than i could have expected.

sausage? glorious. sherry? sure. caramel glazed pears? oh yeah.

then, i was walking across the street after exiting star when i realized i had no pears. i had three pounds of sausage (specifically pork sausage, none of that italian stuff), a package of sage (one can't cook such a quantity of pork without sage), two bags of peas and carrots, a box of chicken stock, but no pears. huh. i was too tired to go back, so off i went without the pears.

i had just come back from finishing a model, and before that i was at my full-time job, so you can imagine how i didn't particularly want to cook because i was incredibly tired. but i'd said i would, and invited people, and there's nothing you can do at that point. but by the end of the night - and i know this is really sappy - i had remembered why i like cooking so much.

i always hated those people who review recipes on epicurious.com, having changed virtually the whole recipe. then i did it myself, and realized that in some cases, it makes sense. i mean, i kept the idea of the recipe...i just changed most of it according to my tastes. and now i'm here telling you all about it, as if you have the same taste as me - which in my opinion is the only situation in which this recipe switcheroo works.

so i started with the sherry-infused caramel. you make a fairly dark caramel, and then add sherry (it was supposed to be sherry vinegar, but why use the vinegar when you can use the real thing? for 5 bucks, this stuff was probably fairly close to vinegar, anyway) so it stays a liquid. then you pour off the caramel into a cup, where it stays all amber and viscous. then the onions get sauteed in the pan with sage and thyme, then you add the caramel back in. meanwhile you brown the sausages, and then you simmer them in the caramel mixture. and the result is glazed sausages with just the right balance of salty and sweet.

dinner basically became a british affair: to go with the sausages, i did mashed potatoes with gravy (a chicken broth based gravy since there was virtually no fond from the sausage), and peas and carrots on the side. the peas and carrots were - gasp! - frozen, but to avoid the evil trap of boiled vegetables, i sauteed the onions and then added in the other veg. simple, fast, and serviceable. let me tell you about the sausages: the caramel sauce is admittedly slightly sweet, since it is caramel, after all - it's like maple syrup without the maple, but plus something else...the sage was definitely a good addition. and when you brown the sausages, then cook them in the caramel for a while - well, that is quite possibly the definition of heaven. they stay kind of crispy, but absorb caramel into the casing and turn a lovely brown. the mashed potatoes - made from yukon gold potatoes, per my preference and our available ingredients - are a fantastic and essential foil to the sweetness of the caramel, letting you taste the other non-caramel flavors a little better.

so dinner was a very enjoyable affair. one of the things i like best about cooking is being efficient with the ingredients, in particular, the residues: using the fond from something you just fried to flavor something else, or in this case, letting the caramel still stuck to the pan flavor the onions and sage. it may not be particularly healthy (much butter was sacrificed to this dinner) but it sure is satisfying to see your ingredients go so far.

sherry caramel glazed sausages
1/2c sugar
1/4c water
1/4c sherry
3/4c onions, halved and sliced thinly
1/2 pkg of sage (~1/4c chopped coarsely)
1T thyme leaves
1 to 1 1/2 lbs pork sausage (ie bratwurst)
1T butter
salt and pepper

1. combine the sugar and water in a 10 or 12 inch skillet and boil until it turns a deep amber color. add the sherry and let the caramel dissolve - the caramel will hiss and solidify when the sherry hits it, but you just need to stir it until the sugar bits dissolve. pour off the liquid into a bowl.

2. put the butter in the skillet and add the herbs when the butter is hot. add the onions and saute the onions until they're browned - the remaining caramel that coats the pan will dissolve from the steam generated by the onions.

3. meanwhile, brown the sausages in another pan. then put them into the pan with the caramel mixture and simmer on low heat for about a half hour, turning the sausages halfway through, until the sausages are cooked through and glazed. if the liquid runs too thick, then you can add some chicken stock to thin it (or water if you have nothing else).

[serves 3-4]