Barese Sausage and Munchies!

Barese sausage is quite different from your typical Italian sausage which is normally made with fennel. Barese sausages are finger thin, sort of like the shape and size of a breakfast sausage. These sausages are similar to an area in southern Italy around Bari on the Adriatic coast.

Lucky for me I only have to drive about 35 minutes to get to a wonderful Italian market that makes them fresh on a daily basis!

The ingredients in Barese sausage vary but usually they consist of the meat being either pork or lamb or a mixture of both. Herbs, such as parsley or basil, some garlic, parmesan or romano cheese and some type of tomato product either paste, plum or sun-dried.

I have a friend who was born in Bari and years ago he taught me his simple method for cooking them up on top of the stove.

Place the sausage in a skillet with white wine, enough to almost cover them. With your burner on medium high keep turning them often until they reach an ugly gray color and the wine cooks out. I like to poke some holes on each sausage with a tooth pick so the wine really gets in and flavors them even more.

After the wine pretty much dissipates, remove the sausage, drizzle in some olive oil and place them back into the pan and brown them up to a nice deep golden color, that's it! A very simple method, but oh so flavorful!

If you can locate some Barese sausage in your area, I highly recommend you give it a try!

They're perfect as part of an antipasto platter because of their size, in fact I served them on Super Bowl Sunday along with my Balsamic Glazed Peppers with Eggplant, Olives, Marinated Asparagus, Salami, aged Asiago and Provolone cheese, and this addicting Cauliflower Pesto,( Thanks Stacey!) and of course let's not forget the stack of crispy Crostini!

For Stacey's addicting Cauliflower Pesto here's the recipe. My family loves roasted cauliflower with romano cheese so I eliminated the raisins and capers and added 1/2 cup of grated romano to mine. Slather this on a crostini and you will be forever hooked!

Another addicting little treat are these Balsamic Glazed Peppers with Eggplant! Equally as good slathered on a crispy crostini or placed into your favorite sandwich. Wait until you find out how easy they are to make, providing you have a bottle of good quality balsamic glaze sitting in your fridge. Two brands I personally like are Colavita and Blaze if you don't have any please seek some out, it's so nice to have a go to bottle to quickly flavor things up, it's also great drizzled over cheese. Of course you can always make your own in a pan by reducing balsamic vinegar down until it becomes a thick rich syrup consistency.

Here's what you do;

Slice thin strips of yellow, green and red peppers, also peel and slice your eggplant into strips. Toss them all with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast them in a hot 425F oven turning them often until they become tender with a nice deep color. Half way through the roasting process start pouring on the glaze and keep checking and tossing. Start out small but add as much glaze as you like according to your own taste. When they cool down place in a bowl and add chopped parsley and 1 crushed garlic clove, be sure to drizzle in more olive oil! Toss and enjoy!

Buon Appetito Everyone!