Eat-Out-At-Home: DiRusso's Italian Sausage Sandwiches

This is another recipe born out of my deep longing for home food.  You know, it's kind of funny, I've lived in Utah for 6 years now, and I still call Ohio home.  And one thing my home state does well, is food.  Especially fair food.  Utah has no clue what fair food is, and let me tell you Utahns something very important.  Pay close attention here.  Krusteaz scone batter does NOT a funnel cake make, nor do Costco corn dogs make true fair food.  Now, my Mom's absolute favorite fair food is this delicious conglomeration of sausage, and red sauce, and mozzarella cheese, and delicious bread....all wrapped up in a square of tin-foil so you can take it with you all over the fair.  Otherwise known as the DiRusso's Italian Sausage Sandwich.

My Mom tells me that DiRusso's now sells their amazing sausages in the frozen food sections of the local grocery stores, so she can replicate them at home.  Unfortunately, my local grocery stores have not responded to my repeated requests to stock my favorite home foods, in particular the Ohio trifecta (Pierre's Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Dan Dee Cheesies, and DiRusso's Italian Sausage).  Lucky for me, my sweet Mamma always has her house stocked with the trifecta each time I come home for a visit. However, when I'm craving it here, in Utah, I've got to find some other way to satisfy my desires than hopping a plane to Ohio, because that would get old, and very expensive!

These sandwiches are delicious, and VERY easy to make.  While we may not have the DiRusso's brand sausage here (which does make a difference, by the way), we do have a couple of really good brands.  My favorite?  Colossimo's original sausage.  They used to sell it at Costco, but lately I've only seen the Red Wine version, which I don't like nearly as much.  I find it at Smith's now.  It's more expensive, but worth it in the end.  You can use whatever type of sausage you like, mild, hot, sweet, etc, but I prefer a mild sausage for this, the sweet just doesn't have the same "pop!" I like in the mild.

Also, you will notice that I add the vegetables in two phases.  There is a good reason for this.  You add the first batch in right at the very start, because you want your sausage to pick up the flavors from them.  It will really infuse into them, and change the flavor, for the better.  But, you don't want to add them all at once, because you will be adding water to them, and you don't want to be stuck with soggy veggies.  These sandwiches are incredibly simple to make, you'll be shocked at what great flavor you can get from such simple ingredients.

On a housekeeping note, if you scroll to the very bottom of this post, you can find a plain-text version of this recipe. I'm still working out the kinks of a print function.

Hallelujahs: Simple, Fresh Ingredients, Easy, Delicious
Hellfires: I can't think of any, other than the fact that Utah doesn't stock DiRusso's Italian Sausage.
Variations: Next time, I think Jon and I are going to sear them on the grill first, so we can get that smokey flavor in here, too.

Italian Sausage Sandwiches

5-6 Italian Sausages
1 Large Onion
2 Bell Peppers (whatever colors you have on hand)
Salt/Pepper to Taste
1 Jar of your Favorite Spaghetti Sauce (or homemade if you're feeling really daring)
Mozzerella Cheese
Sub Rolls


-Slice your vegetables.
-Place sausages, and half the vegetables in a frying pan on medium heat.

-Add Salt and Pepper to taste
-Sear the sausages on each side. You want to get some brown bits on the bottom of the pan (from the sausage, AND the veggies), without burning them.

-Add 1-1 1/2 cups of water to deglaze pan. Cover the sausages and turn heat down to 3-4. Simmer for about 20 minutes or so.
-Meanwhile, Toast your rolls

-Once sausages have simmered in water for approximately 20 minutes, remove lid, and increase heat so that the water evaporates.
-Add in the rest of your vegetables, and heat until hot, but still crisp.
-Heat your spaghetti sauce in a saucepan on the stove (or in the microwave)

-Once the sausages, and sauce are finished, make your sandwich! Place the sausage on the roll, add some cheese, then some sauce, then more cheese, and your veggies. If, like me, you're picky, and like the flavor of the veggies, but not biting into one, leave them out. You'll still have all the flavor of them cooked into the meat!
-If your cheese isn't melting, you can place these under the broiler, for a couple of minutes, too.


Plain Text Recipe:

Italian Sausage Sandwiches
5-6 Italian Sausages
1 Large Onion
2 Bell Peppers (whatever colors you have on hand)
1 Jar of your Favorite Spaghetti Sauce (or homemade if you're feeling really daring)
Mozzerella Cheese
Sub Rolls

-Slice your vegetables.
-Place sausages, and half the vegetables in a frying pan on medium heat.
-Add salt and pepper to taste.
-Sear the sausages on each side. You want to get some brown bits on the bottom of the pan (from the sausage, AND the veggies), without burning them.
-Add 1-1 1/2 cups of water to deglaze pan. Cover the sausages and turn heat down to 3-4. Simmer for about 20 minutes or so.
-Meanwhile, Toast your rolls
-Once sausages have simmered in water for approximately 20 minutes, remove lid, and increase heat so that the water evaporates.
-Add in the rest of your vegetables, and heat until hot, but still crisp.
-Heat your spaghetti sauce in a saucepan on the stove (or in the microwave)
-Once the sausages, and sauce are finished, make your sandwich! Place the sausage on the roll, add some cheese, then some sauce, then more cheese, and your veggies. If, like me, you're picky, and like the flavor of the veggies, but not biting into one, leave them out. You'll still have all the flavor of them cooked into the meat!
-If your cheese isn't melting, you can place these under the broiler, for a couple of minutes, too.

Eat out at home: Chicken Alfredo, and Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

I know, the title of this thread is a bit of an oxymoron. How can one eat out, at home? I'm here to tell you that you can enjoy food that is delicious, and just as good as your favorite chain restaurant right in your own kitchen, and without a significant amount of fuss, either.

These ideas were born of The Husband and I's affinity for eating out, and our bank statement's aversion to it. Adding it all up one month, we were simply shocked to find out how much money we were spending on eating out. Now don't get me wrong, a nice dinner date, with your loved one is an absolute must in my book, but we were eating out (with the kids in tow) at least 3-4 times per week, adding up to a staggering $500-$600 per month. Ouch, right? So, I decided to find a way to enjoy some of our favorite restaurant meals, at home, and the amount of money we're saving is insane!

The first recipe that we've pretty much perfected was a weekly staple in our house prior to the big switch; macaroni grill chicken alfredo, along with their absolutely to die for rosemary bread.

The sauce recipe is actually the first recipe that I got from one of my in-laws, back when my husband and I were still engaged. We went up to Idaho to visit The Husband's brother, Dayne, and his wife, Sarah made us some alfredo sauce that rivaled any restaurant. This is no easy task, as I've tried just about every brand of jarred alfredo sauce on the store shelves, and found them to be downright disgusting. I won't even use them in a pinch. So, a big thank you to Sarah, for jump-starting this recipe!  Sarah is also famous, in The Family, for her salsa, and italian bread recipes!



Now, I do have to apologize in advance that I don't have any "finished product" photos of the delicious rosemary bread. I decided to set the bowl outside to rise, since it was nice and warm, and forgot all about it for several hours. The wind blew off the towel, and I was left with a crusty, nasty mess. So, I couldn't actually bake it. What can I say, we all make mistakes! But, take my word for it, this bread is delicious, and it goes so perfectly with the chicken alfredo that I just didn't want to skip it until I had time to make it again. Now, I used to be VERY intimidating by bread making. All those artisan loaves just struck fear into me, and visions of sore arms after hours of kneading. But this bread could not be more simple. Easy to make in either your Kitchen-Aid, Bosch, or other electric mixer, meaning NO HAND KNEADING. Easy=beautiful for me!

And, for a bit of housekeeping, I realized that it would be very difficult for the readers of this blog to print out the recipes, due to the large amount of photos on each post. As it stands right now, I have no clue how to increase the print functionality of this website. But, I promise to learn, and have a better solution for the future. Until then, please bear with me! I may just include a text-only version of each recipe below the photo-laden part until I come up with a more permanent solution.




Chicken Alfredo

Hallelujahs: Delicious, and much cheaper than eating out, easy to make
Hellfires: Honestly, not many. It does take about 45 minutes-1 hour, which is sort of time consuming, but well worth the wait!

1 lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts/tenderloins
1/4-1/2 cup Kraft Tuscan House Italian Salad Dressing
Italian Seasoning, Garlic Powder, Salt, Pepper, and Onion Powder to taste
1 pint of heavy cream, or half & half
1 stick of butter
2 tablespoons of cream cheese (1 oz) 2-4 tsp garlic powder
A Pinch or Two of Parsley flakes (dried or fresh)
Salt, Pepper to Taste
1/2-3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (NOT the stuff in the green canister)


-Boil a large pot of water/salt for your pasta. I usually prefer bowtie (farfalle for you high fallutin' types) noodles for this recipe, but I didn't have any, and I had a bunch of egg noodles, which worked just fine.
-Cook pasta according to package directions.
-Meanwhile, cut your chicken tenderloins/breasts into small pieces. I just use the frozen bag of chicken tenderloins from Costco, because they are cheap, and work just fine for this. Plus, I always have plenty of them on hand.
-Add them to your deep frying pan, along with the salad dressing, and seasonings. Stir it around, to get everything well incorporated, and turn burner on med-high. Cover, and begin sauce.

-In a medium sized saucepan, combine butter, and cream cheese, and melt over low-medium heat, whisking occasionally.

-Once they melt together, whisk in the heavy cream, or half and half.
-Note, I am usually skeptical about using anything but heavy cream in recipes. I mean, lower calories are great, and all, but if it also equals lower taste, then it's just not worth it to me. But, in this case, I happened to have a bunch of half & half left over from a cake recipe, and it tasted every bit as good as with the heavy cream. So feel free to use whatever you have on hand. Except for milk, that would be too thin for my liking.

-Reduce heat to low, and simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes or so. It's really important here to cook this on low. If you heat it too high, the emulsification will "break," and your butter will separate from the half & half.
-Add the garlic powder (we LOVE garlic, so I add a LOT), salt, and pepper, and allow to cook for another 5 minutes on low heat.
-I usually add a couple of pinches of parsley here, too, but I forgot to throw it in there in these photos. If you don't have it, don't sweat it.
-Add your parmesan cheese. Please, use shredded parmesan cheese, either fresh or from the bag, but whatever you do, do not use the grated stuff in the green canister. It lends a very grainy texture to the sauce, which is not pleasing. Start with 1/2 cup, and taste the sauce, before adding all 3/4 cup. Just keep adding until you get the texture/taste you prefer. You'll need to whisk vigorously to get it all to combine.





-Meanwhile, when your chicken is cooked through, remove the lid, and begin to brown it, getting some nice color on all sides. I actually prefer NOT to use a non-stick pan for this part, so that you get all kinds of nice, brown bits on the bottom of the pan for the sauce to pick up. The non-stick pan I used here did not lend itself to those little lovelies, and I missed them!



-Pour the sauce into your pan with the chicken, and stir, over low/medium heat, scraping up all the brown bits on the bottom of your pan. This should change the color of your sauce, to a deeper blond-like color.



-After draining your pasta, add it to the sauce/chicken mixture, and stir until all noodles are combined.






Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

Hallelujahs: Delicious, and about as close to the real thing as you can get, REALLY simple, and hard to mess up!
Hellfires: Time consuming (you have to wait for it to rise), and it doesn't really store well. I tried to double the recipe, and save the extra loaves in Ziploc bags once, and they just got soggy, so you really need to eat them the day you make them.

1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons rosemary
2 tablespoons butter

-Place your water, sugar, and yeast in your mixer bowl, and allow to proof (just let it sit there!) for 5-10 minutes until it's all foamy, and bubbly like so:

-And for a random, FYI, the science, and chemistry of how yeast ferments/respires is actually pretty fascinating. It's actually a living organism you're putting into your bread, and then killing when you bake it! The "holes" in your bread are actually the spaces where the yeast used to reside, fermenting the sugars, and creating Carbon Dioxide (bubbles). If you ever have time, look it up, it's pretty cool!



-After the yeast has gotten nice, and foamy, add your butter, flour, and rosemary. I used fresh rosemary this time, because I had a TON of it in my garden. It smelled DIVINE! But, dried rosemary works well here, too.

Rosemary (kind of looks, and smells, like a fresh Christmas tree, don't you think?)





-Turn on your kitchen appliance, and allow it to come together until it is smooth, and elastic. In my Bosch, at high speed, this takes about 4-5 minutes. It is going to be a very sticky bread. If it's too sticky, add some flour, but the less flour you use, the better the bread will be.

The Bosch in action:

-Once the dough has been sufficiently kneaded, place into oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap (this works better for me than a towel), and set in warm, dry place to rise.
-Allow it to rise until it has doubled in size, about 1.5 hours.
-Preheat oven to 375*
-Once it has risen, punch it down, which means exactly what it says. Ball up your fist, pull it back, and take out all your frustrations on that poor little loaf of bread.
-Separate into two halves, and shape into balls.
-Add some additional rosemary on the top of each loaf, and press it lightly into the dough.
-Place on greased baking sheet, and allow to rise for an additional 45 minutes.
-Bake for 15-20 minutes until nice, and golden brown on top.
-As soon as you take it out of the oven, smear it with butter, and sprinkle with coarse Kosher salt.
-Eat immediately, dipping into alfredo sauce, Yum!

Original bread recipe can be found at: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Romanos-Macaroni-Grill-Rosemary-Bread-64446

Lunchbox Lovin', and a trip down memory lane...

I know, it's amazing, I'm here, alive, AND posting recipes. My finals are over, so I should have a lot more to share with you guys now that time isn't such a hot commodity.

Today's recipe is so simple, I'm almost embarrassed to post it as my first "original" recipe on the blog, except it's so delicious there's nothing to be embarrassed about! This recipe is one that was inspired by my hometown, and my Mom. Good thing I introduced her, huh?

I grew up in NE Ohio, but, right now, I happen to live in Utah. Which, is a beautiful place, but probably one of the most generic, "white bread" places in the world. Now don't get me wrong, I happen to love white bread, nothing beats a plain old PB&J on Wonder Bread. And don't even get me started on the monstrosity that is "white wheat bread," BLECH! Anyway, what I'm getting at is that Utah County is very devoid of a lot of the immigrant communities I grew up around in Ohio. You want great Mexican food? You can find it on almost as many corners as a Mormon church. But, you want some delicious homemade Polish pierogis? You're SOL (which means "SORRRY out of luck," you crazy sinners, this is a revival, you know!). A quaint little Italian Bakery? Not a chance. Which, in my opinion, is a real tragedy.

I grew up near some really GREAT Italian bakeries, and pizza places (can anyone say Guido's in Chesterland? YUM!). Two of my favorites are T&T Bakery in Painesville, and Ianiro's, in Chardon, and if you're ever in NE Ohio, you MUST go there (and bring me back some Pizzelle's and Pepperoni Rolls!). You want great donuts? Biaggio's in Willoughby, but that's another post. This post is about something more savory, and more practical for your lover's (or your own) lunchbox. The number one specialty at these great Italian bakery's is something that is so incredibly simple, you can't believe how good it can be. They are called Pepperoni Rolls (say it with me now, pepp-er-oni-rolls, NOT pizza rolls), and if you want one from T&T bakery, you'd better be there at exactly 10:30 am, or they'll be sold out before you get one, and that would be a real travesty.



T&T and Ianiro's have two different takes on Pepperoni rolls, T&T's is cheese-less, completely reliant on the DELICIOUS bread they wrap around giant-sized pepperonis. Ianiro's, on the other hand, involves delicious bread, AND melty cheese, a winning combination in anyone's book. The husband and I don't agree on which is better, I prefer the simplicity of T&T's, and he prefers the melty goodness of Ianiro's, but really, let's face it, when you're talking about homemade italian bread, and perfectly seasoned pepperonis, is there really a wrong way? I think not.

Now, if you are unfortunately stuck residing somewhere outside a 200 mile radius of either of these two delicious bakeries (because I would SO drive 200 miles for a good pepperoni roll!), and in a location so white bread as to be completely devoid of immigrant bakeries, what are you to do? Suffer in silence, begrudging your locale? NO, my friends! Not if you're ingenuity is still intact...you make your own to hold you over until you can get into town, and get some deliciousness again.

Now, these pepperoni rolls are NOT as delicious as the one's they serve at my favorite Italian bakeries. And it's not because I'm not an Italian immigrant, it's because I'm using frozen bread dough here, and as good as it's gotten, nothing matches hand-kneaded bread in an Italian bakery. Again, this has nothing to do with laziness, it just never occurred to me before now to make my own bread. I think now that I have some more time, I might try it. When I do, I'll let you know how it goes.

Now, I don't know about you guys, but my husband has a job which affords him no lunch hour. He typically has 10-15 minutes to grab something in his car, between hospitals. Which either means fast food, or soggy bologna and white bread sandwiches, neither of which sounds like a good option to me. Put this together with my nostalgic longing for Italian baked goods, and my ingenious Mother (who came up with the idea), and you've got a winning recipe to makeover your lunchbox, or your lover's!

Now, you will notice a key difference in my original recipes, and the recipes I post from other websites, particularly in the measurements, or lack thereof. In true Southern style, I very rarely measure ingredients in family recipes. Mostly because my Mother never did, and neither did her mother, or hers, and so on and so on. I think there must be an edict somewhere that Southern women aren't allowed to measure ingredients when cooking savory dishes. It would be grounds for ejection in my Mother's kitchen, and I just can't risk that.

Also, I should note that while I prefer the cheese-less pepperoni rolls at T&T, when I make these at home I make them WITH cheese. The homemade bread is what really makes T&T's pepperoni rolls stand out, without that delicious bread, you really need the cheese.

Okay, onto the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 loaf of frozen bread dough, thawed (I use Rhode's, but only because that's all my evil, giant-box store carries)
1 stick of butter
Italian herbs (I use Italian seasoning, rosemary, and garlic powder...LOTS of garlic powder.)
Pepperoni
Shredded Cheese (I use whatever I have on hand, Parmesan, Asiago, Cheddar, whatever)

Directions:
Preheat Oven according to directions on your bread. I think last time I did 375, but I'm not sure that's what Rhode's recommends...sue me, I like to live adventurously. And everything turned out just fine.

Melt your stick of butter in a bowl. Once melted, add your preferred herbs, and stir them together. Now, if like me, you thought 2 sticks of butter might be better than one, and are left with GOBS of melted herb butter, don't throw this stuff out! Place in small tupperware container, and stick in the fridge for next time you get the inkling to add some buttery herb deliciousness to your recipes.



Now, roll out your bread dough into a looooooong rectangle. This part is not easy, and requires a little muscle. Frozen bread dough does not particularly prefer to be rolled out, but don't worry about hurting its feelings, Just push a little harder, and use a little muscle. Incidentally, I'm 99.9% sure that this hard labor COMPLETELY makes up for the calories in the food you are about to eat. So, go with it, and enjoy your cardio. I typically break the loaf into two halfs, to make the last steps easier, which means I get TWICE the workout.

-This reminds me of an important tool you MUST have in your kitchen. A good, heavy, MARBLE rolling pin. I don't want to see any of you using those flimsy $2 wooden ones from your favorite big box store. NO. They just will not do. They don't work very well, and they always make me think of wooden splinters getting stuck in my food. Nasty. You need to invest in a good quality, marble rolling pin. It will make ALL the difference in the world for so many of the recipes I will share with you. So, take the money you're about to save on fast food lunches, and put it towards one of these babies:

Oh, and I just did a quick google search, and you can get one of these babies for $11, so no excuses!

Once your dough is rolled out, spread some of the melted butter/herb mixture over it, until it looks nice and golden. Then, add some of your shredded cheese, sprinkling until you think there is enough. Then, add some more, just because. Layer your pepperonis, until you have enough to satisfy your craving. Add a bit more cheese, because you really can't have too much melty goodness.




Then, you're going to roll this entire thing up, longways, kind of like a jelly roll. Go slow, the pepperoni makes it so that the bread doesn't easily stick to itself, and you don't want to dislodge it all.




Once it's all rolled, cut it into 3-5 inch sections, and place on greased baking sheet. Cut vent holes in the top of each pepperoni roll, spread on some more butter/herb mixture (because really, you can't have too much butter. And before you get your panties in a wad about calories, don't forget all the cardio you did, rolling out the dough).



Place in your hot oven, and bake until they look done. About 15 minutes or so, usually. They come out with pepperoni, and cheese sticking out the sides, and smelling HEAVENLY.



Place in a ziploc bag, and store in the fridge up to 1 week. Place one of these babies into your lover's (or your own!) lunchbox next week, and see how quickly your fast food bill starts to decline! Because who's going to trade one of these for grease laden fast food?