Italian Sausage and Cheese Jalapeno Poppers

There is nothing quite like a quick late night snack.... we had been busy all week and when it was finally the weekend - and being Saturday night I thought I would treat us with one of our favourite treats... JALAPENO POPPERS!!!

 

Jalapeno Poppers have become a regular feature in our house.  Both hubby and I love jalapenos and experimenting with different fillings.  There are so many different varieties of these unbelievable tasty morsels - just Google you will be surprised.  I loved the idea of putting sausage and cheese together to give these some meatiness but not take away from the jalapeno itself.

 

These tasty yet sometimes hot nibbles are just what the doctor ordered.  Tonight we tried filling them with Italian Sausage and creamy cheese.  Very simple ingredients but an abundance of flavour.  The Italian Sausage filled with fennel, garlic and chilli made it easy as I didn't have to add anything else to the mix except for the cream cheese and some grated parmesan.

 

Trust me these did not last long... didn't even make it to a fancy platter!! OOPS!!

Italian Sausage and Cheese Jalapeno Poppers

(Recipe adapted from A Taste of Home)

Makes: 40
 

500 grams Italian sausages

cooking spray

250 grams cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

20 large jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded

Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Cook the sausage until no longer pink; drain.

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese and Parmesan cheese; fold in sausage.

Line two large baking trays with baking paper. 

Spoon about 1 tablespoonful into each jalapeno half.  Place on baking tray in a single layer.

Bake, uncovered, 15-20 minutes or until filling is lightly browned and bubbly.

(Click here for a printable version of this recipe)

Conchiglioni with Italian Sausage



One of the best things about pasta is that it's so versatile and there are many different types to choose from.  However the ultimate bonus about pasta is that it is nearly everyone's go-to comfort food.

 

There is always an air of excitement when the family know pasta is on the menu - pasta is always normally easy to prepare and easy to eat. 

 

This recipe was one of the easiest but flavour packing sauces I have made. In fact I cannot believe the pasta took nearly as long to boil as it did to make the sauce.  Minimal ingredients were used which is also a bonus.  If you do not have the Conchiglioni (large pasta shells) and pasta will be perfectly fine for this recipe.

 

The flavours of fennel, chilli, garlic and parsley were perfect with the pork mince - literally this was the insides of store-brought Italian sausages... yep you read right - store-brought sausages.  Some tinned tomatoes, cream and seasoning and voila - dinner is served!!

 

You must give this recipe a go.....

Conchiglioni with Italian Sausage

(Recipe adapted from Australian Women's Weekly)

Serves: 6

SmartPoints per serve: 14

1 kilogram Italian-style sausages

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, chopped finely

3 x 400g cans crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons cream

2 cups loosely packed basil leaves

500g conchiglioni (large shell pasta, see Cook's Note)

1⁄3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Make a slit along the length of the sausages and remove sausage meat, discard skins.

Heat a large frying pan over high heat, coarsely crumble sausage meat into the pan and cook, stirring, until browned. Remove meat with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper. Discard fat.

Heat oil in the same pan over low-medium heat, add garlic. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until fragrant but not coloured. Increase heat, add tomatoes and sausage meat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until sauce is thick. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir in cream and half the basil.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in plenty of rapidly boiling, well-salted water until al dente; drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Add pasta to sauce mixture, stir to combine. Remove from heat, stir through parmesan. If mixture feels dry, add some of the pasta cooking water. Serve sprinkled with remaining basil leaves.

 

(Click here for a printable version of this recipe) 

Italian Sausage and Beef Lasagne

Nothing beats a full plate of Lasagne no matter what language you speak...... 

And I like nothing better than exploring different flavours for Lasagne.  Traditional thick beef sauce with lots of Bechamel sauce is wonderful but sometimes one just needs to look outside the square when it comes to this wonderfully comforting dish.  

I decided, especially after the somewhat recent success of my Italian Sausage and Beef Bolognaise that trying this as the base sauce in a Lasagne would be only the right thing to do!! And trust me it was. 

The flavours were magnificent ... from the underlying flavours of the Italian sausage full of fennel, garlic and chilli, the thick tomato sauce and right through to the thick creamy Bechamel sauce this was definitely a winner.

Italian Sausage and Beef Lasagne

Serves: 8

500 grams Italian sausage, skins removed and cut into small chunks

500 grams lean ground beef

1 brown onions, finely diced

1 cloves garlic, crushed

1 x 425 grams tinned diced tomatoes

1/2 cup tomato paste
700 gram bottle passata (tomato puree)

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 tablespoons dried oregano

1 tablespoons dried parsley

2 teaspoons salt

freshly ground black pepper
2 carrots, grated
1 large zucchini, grated

30 grams butter

2 tablespoons plain flour

500 ml skim milk

1 tablespoons Dijon mustard

salt

ground white pepper
8 fresh Lasagne sheets

150 grams grated tasty cheese

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a large frying pan cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. 

Transfer to a large saucepan and stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, passata, and water. 

Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, oregano, parsley, salt, and season with freshly ground black pepper. 

Add carrot and zucchini.  Stir well until well combined.  Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened.

Meanwhile make the Bechamel by adding the butter to a large saucepan.  Cook over medium heat and until completely melted.  Remove from heat.  Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until flour is mixed through and you have a nice soft roux.  Return to the heat and gradually add in the milk, using a whisk mix continually, ensuring it's completely mixed through and that you have no lumps.  Continue with remaining milk.  Leave to simmer over low heat, stirring, until thickened slightly.  Add the mustard and season with salt and pepper.  Stir well. Remove from heat.

Spoon 1/4 beef mixture over base of a lasagne dish. Top with 2 lasagne sheets. Cover with another 1/4 of the beef mixture and then cover with 1/3 of the Bechamel sauce.  Top with another 2 lasagne sheets.  Spread again with 1/4 of the beef mixture and cover with 2 lasagne sheets.  Finally put the remaining beef mixture in the dish and cover with the remaining lasagne sheets. Top with remaining Bechamel sauce over the lasagne sheets and sprinkle with the combined grated cheese.

Cover with foil (spray foil with cooking spray to stop cheese sticking to the foil) and bake in oven for 40 - 45 minutes. Remove foil and cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes until cheese is golden brown.

Serve immediately.

(click here for a printable version of this recipe)

Italian Sausage and Beef Bolognaise

Good ol' Spaghetti Bolognaise just got exciting.  This was absolutely to die for.... and just raised the bar for "Comfort Food".  I would have to say one of my new all time favourite pasta sauces.  The thought of putting Italian sausage into the beef sauce was something I had not thought of doing before although saying this I have made Rigatoni Milano before just using pork sausage as the meat component in the sauce..  

Not the quickest to make but definitely worth all the effort.  The Italian sausages need to be skinned and cut/broken into small bite size pieces before cooking.  As usual I managed to sneak in extra vegetables also these were not that recognizable by the time the sauce had finished cooking - winner on the fussy kid front.

The additional herbs complimented the already existing flavour of the Italian sausage which all enhanced the thick rich tomato sauce.  My favourite undertone was the fennel, both from the sausage flavourings and the fennel seeds but everything combined made my taste buds dance.  

The kids really enjoyed this different sauce even with our son Oliver asking "Please Mam can I can some more?"  

And of course I said..... "Yes you can!

Italian Sausage and Beef Bolognaise

Serves: 8

1 kilogram Italian sausage, skins removed and cut into small chunks

1 kilogram lean ground beef

2 brown onions, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 x 425 grams tinned diced tomatoes

1 cup tomato paste
700 gram bottle passata (tomato puree)

1 cup water

2 tablespoons white sugar

3 teaspoons dried basil leaves

2 teaspoon fennel seeds

2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

2 tablespoons dried oregano

2 tablespoons dried parsley

1 tablespoon salt

freshly ground black pepper
4 carrots, grated
2 large zucchini, grated

400 grams pasta, of your choice
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large frying pan cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. 

Transfer to a large saucepan and stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, passata, and water. 

Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, oregano, parsley, salt, and season with freshly ground black pepper. 

Add carrot and zucchini.  Stir well until well combined.  Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened.

Meanwhile bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta, and rinse with cold water. Set aside.  

When ready to serve, place pasta in serving dishes and top with pasta sauce.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

(Click here for a printable version of this recipe)