Sausage & Grapes with Braised and Fresh Fennel, Autumn 2007 Edition
It's early fall, and it's grape season. Here at Chez Widow, that means it's time for sausage and grapes. I've written about sausage and grapes before, of course, a seasonal dish traditionally fed to hungry grape harvesters in Italy. Those of you who came to my cooking demo at the North Market got to see a simple version of this recipe; hopefully you can see from the picture how this is supposed to look when one has adequate heat with which to cook!
The inspiration for this interpretation came last week, when Husband and I were leaving the house and he paused to pick a few fennel flowers from our "garden." (In quotes because we didn't plant anything this year, it's just whatever made it from last year: fennel, dill, oregano, sage, and thyme.) The fennel flowers were filled with a nectar-y, persistent sweet fennel flavor; it was amazing. We started thinking of how we might use this bounty, and decided on one of our fall favorites, sausage and grapes. Sadly, by the time we finally got to make the dish, the flowers had fallen! Ah well, there's always next year, right?
This dish is hearty, sweet, and comforting. We pair it with polenta; in this case, I made a creamy polenta (5 cups water to one cup of cornmeal) and stirred in a few tablespoons of butter and a little freshly grated Parmesan.
Sausage & Grapes with Braised and Fresh Fennel - Serves 4
4 fennel bulbs, trimmed of any brown bits. Quarter 3 bulbs, and shave the fourth bulb with a mandoline or a ceramic slicer
pinch of white sugar
1 tbsp rice vinegar, divided
olive oil
4 hot or sweet Italian Sausages (preferably flavored with fennel)
2 pounds grapes; I like big fat Muscadine grapes, or another interesting fat grape, halved and pips removed
1/2 bottle red wine
pinch fennel seeds
2 tbsp brown sugar
extra virgin olive oil
salt
Place about half an inch of water in a large saute pan and add the fennel. Sprinkle with a pinch of sugar and 1/2 tbsp of the rice vinegar. Heat over medium high heat until the water has evaporated, stirring or tossing to ensure even cooking. Remove the fennel from the pan and set aside.
Heat the same saute pan over high heat, drizzling in a tbsp of olive oil. Brown the sausages on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. There will be smoke! When the sausages are brown, tip in about 3/4 of the grapes. Deglaze the pan with half of the wine (about 1 cup) and add the fennel back to the pan. Add the sugar and fennel seeds. Cook over medium high heat, keeping a watchful eye on things and tossing the pan every now and again, for about 20 minutes, adding more wine when necessary to keep the pan from drying out or burning. The grapes will cook down to a syrupy consistency, coating the sausages in their tart sweetness. When this happens, add the remaining grapes and toss just to heat them through; you don't have to do this, but I like a combination of melty and firm grapes.
Place the reserved shaved fennel in a little bowl and toss with the remaining rice vinegar and a little drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
Place a little polenta on a plate and add a sausage. Spoon over a good amount of grapes, fennel and sauce. Top with a little bit of the raw fennel salad and serve with some sort of hearty red wine. (We opted for Aglianico).
Local Sources for this recipe: these hot Italian sausage links came from Oink Moo Cluck at the Worthington Farmer's Market (they also sell at Clintonville); the fennel came from Sippel Farm at Clintonville (and they also sell at Worthington, most Saturdays). Grapes are available at lots of farm markets this time of year, although I will admit that I purchased these Muscadine grapes from Whole Foods.
