Dateline: July 14, 2020 Homemade Turkey Sausage and what to do with it?

I ordered from FD some turkey breast and tenderloins, to which I added another tenderloin package from the freezer, this gave me 5 lbs of lean turkey to make sausage with.  

Smoked Sicilian-Style Turkey Sausage 

Makes 5 pounds 

Sicilian sausages rely principally upon fennel seeds for their distinctive taste. Here, the hot smoking cooks the sausage and adds its own inimitable flavor. 

Ingredients 

5 feet small hog or sheep casing 

5 pounds boneless, skin-on turkey (mixture of dark and light meat) 

2 tablespoons kosher salt 

2 teaspoons crushed fennel seeds 

2 teaspoons whole fennel seeds 

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper 

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper (optional) 

2 garlic cloves, minced 

Instructions 

1. Prepare the casing​. 

2. Cut the turkey into 1-inch cubes. Freeze for 30 minutes. 

3. Grind the turkey through the fine disk of a meat grinder. 

4. In a large bowl, combine the turkey, salt, crushed and whole fennel seeds, black pepper, crushed red pepper (if using), and garlic. Freeze for 30 minutes. 

5. Grind the mixture through the fine disk of the grinder. 

6. Stuff the mixture into the prepared casing, prick air pockets, and twist off into 3-inch links. 

7. Place the sausage on a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack and refrigerate, uncovered, for 1 day. 

8. Hot-smoke the sausages at 180 to 190ºF (73 to 88ºC) for 2 to 4 hours, until an instant-read thermometer shows an internal temperature of 165ºF (74ºC). 

9. Cut the links apart. Refrigerate, wrapped in plastic, for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 2 months; thaw in the refrigerator overnight.

Reavis, Charles G.. Home Sausage Making, 4th Edition: From Fresh and Cooked to Smoked, Dried, and Cured: 100 Specialty Recipes . Storey Publishing, LLC. Kindle Edition. 

My modifications to this recipe:

I used collagen casings.  I had some and had never tried them.  They are going to be used only when I need to make sure that there are no pork products in what I am making.  They do not hold a twist well and they are not as strong as natural casings.  

I used only lean white meat and supplemented with 80g of duck fat from making confit.  Going forward I would use what was specified in the recipe, a mix of meats with skin (and probably some duck fat as well)

These are the smoked and grilled links.  After smoking I gave them a soak in ice water to prevent the casing from shrinking away from the meat.  

Now the big question was what to do with these links?

I wanted pasta, so I created a sauce of veggies cooked in the instant pot.

Ingredients

1 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

3-4 anchovy fillets

red pepper flakes

3/4 red bell pepper, diced

2 small zucchini, diced

handful of fresh parsley, chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1 qt homemade chicken stock

1 oz half and half

1/2 c dry white wine

salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and thyme to taste

1/2 lb long pasta, broken in half.  (I used bucatini)

4 links Italian Turkey Sausage, sliced into rounds

any diced cooked vegetables of your choice (clean out the fridge of those tiny containers of left-over veggies)

grated cheese of your choice

Method

1.  Heat Instant Pot on saute.  When hot, add olive oil, onions, garlic, anchovies, and red pepper flakes.  Cook until softened.

2.  Add raw vegetables, parsley, dried spices, salt and pepper and cook until they start to soften.  Add wine to deglaze and then add the stock.  Taste and adjust seasonings

this is just before pressure cooking

3.  Cancel saute, and set up for Pressure Cook 11-12 minutes.  

4.  When Pressure Cook is finished quick release the pressure and puree with a stick blender to your desired degree of smoothness.  Add half and half and stir.

5.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  (I found that it needed salt)

6.  Add in sausage, cooked veggies and broken pasta.  Set pressure on high for 5 minutes.

chopped cooked veggies

sliced sausages

7.  When Pressure Cook is finished, quick release and stir.  Let sit for a couple of minutes to help the starches from the pasta thicken the sauce a bit.  Add some of the cheese to help in that process.  Taste again, and adjust seasonings.

8.  Serve and pass the cheese!

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but here is what was left in the pot!  

This was really delicious and I know my husband had no idea about the anchovies and zucchini!