Goetta - Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage

Goetta aka Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage is made with steel-cut oats, beef, pork and lots of spices. It’s a delicious accompaniment to eggs and toast in the morning. Or as a sandwich filling for lunch.

I must confess that while I have driven to, and flown out of Cincinnati, I haven’t actually spent any time there. We were on our way home from a wedding in Ohio and just passing through. 

That is to tell you that I have no prior personal knowledge of the goodness of goetta, a sausage of German-American origin that is often called Cincinnati’s signature dish. I found it in a search online for something savory I could make with steel-cut oats! If the internet can be believed, it is pronounced gettah, like the O isn’t there. 

There are many classic recipes for goetta but most include beef and pork, along with a variety of spices. I cobbled this one together from a few different ones because I didn’t need to feed a crowd! I used the little loaf pans because they freeze well and a big bread pan won’t fit in my freezer. Also, with only two of us at home, I could take one out, slice and fry, leaving two more to freeze for later, which is exactly what I did.

Goetta - Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage

This recipe makes three small loaf pans, 1 lb each. You can also make it in one normal bread pan, if you prefer. 

Ingredients 

2 cups or 480ml beef stock

2 cups or 480ml water

1 teaspoon fine sea salt (adjust to taste, depending on your stock)

1 1/4 cups or 170g steel-cut oats (also known as pinhead oats)

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons dried marjoram, divided

8 oz or 225g ground beef

8 oz or 225g ground pork (or sausage)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Method

Place the broth, water, salt, oats, bay leaves and 1 teaspoon of the dried marjoram in a large pot. Stir for a minute or two so the salt will dissolve.

Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat to low, cover, and gently simmer for 60-75 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the oats are soft and the liquid is absorbed. Discard the bay leaves. 

If you have one, I recommend using a diffuser under the pot to help the heat be distributed more evenly so the thickening oatmeal doesn't catch. This is mine.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine the raw ground beef, ground pork or sausage, onion, garlic and spices.

When the oats are ready, by which I mean they are fully cooked and no longer wet, add the meat mixture in three batches to the pot and stir well to combine after each addition. 

You can add it in all at once but that does make it more challenging to combine well. This is with addition number 3, the final one. 

Heat through until it starts to slightly bubble then reduce to low, cover and cook for another hour, stirring occasionally. Again, the diffuser comes in handy here. The mixture will get quite loose and watery for a while as the onion cooks down and releases its juice

 

If the liquid has not all been absorbed after the hour with the lid on, remove the lid and continue to cook uncovered, stirring often until the mixture has thickened so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. 

Pour and press the mixture into 1 regular loaf pan or 3 small loaf pans, greased, and let cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.  Each of mine were 1 lb or 450g.

When ready to serve, slice the goetta into 1/2-inch or 1 cm thick pieces in the loaf pan. 

Remove the slices carefully as needed and fry in a DRY nonstick skillet. 

Do not overcrowd the pan because you need ample room to turn them over carefully when that time comes. Allow the goetta slices to brown completely before attempting to turn them. This may not guarantee that they won’t crumble but it helps! 

Once browned on both sides, you can turn them again to get a deeper brown on each side.

Repeat the process until all the goetta you need is brown. Serve with eggs for breakfast or as a sandwich filling. Wrap well and freeze any unused loaf pans for later. 

Enjoy!  

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes made with oats in celebration of National Oatmeal Month. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the oat-y links below.

• Almond Meal Muffins with Oats and Honey from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Cranachan Trifle from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Goetta - Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage from Food Lust People Love
• High Protein Scottish Porridge Oats from Palatable Pastime
• Maple Pecan Oatmeal Scones from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Mini Oat Pancakes With Guacamole Topping from Sneha's Recipe
• Mud Cookies from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Oatmeal Banana Quick Bread from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Oatmeal Honey Date Loaf from A Messy Kitchen
• Orange Cranberry Baked Oatmeal from Amy's Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Goetta – Cincinnati Breakfast Sausage!

.

Stuffed Gem Squash

Roasted Stuffed Gem Squash filled with herby, tomato-ey bulgur wheat is a thing of beauty and deliciousness but you can also kick it up a notch with the addition of Italian sausage. 

Gem squash is a South African heirloom squash that has gained popularity in many other countries. In its native land, it is considered a summer squash but in the United States, it falls into the winter squash category. It’s a descendant of a Central American squash that made its way across the sea and is a must-have in South Africa. 

If you’d like to learn more about them and where to find gem squash, this post on Cook Sister is very informative: https://www.cooksister.com/2010/10/gem-squash-central-finding-them-growing-them-and-eating-them.html

Stuffed Gem Squash  - Two Ways

In the following recipe, we will make a base stuffing with onions, tomatoes, bulgur and herbs, which is delicious on its own for half the gem squash. The other half, we’ll fill with a mixture of the base stuffing with added Italian sausage. By adjusting your filling amounts, you can make all vegetarian, leaving out the sausage altogether or add another link or two of sausage to stuff all the gem squash with a meaty mixture. If you can't find gem squash, substitute small acorn squash which are of a similar size. 

 

Ingredients

4 gem (or acorn) squash 

For the stuffing:

1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil, plus more for sautéing the onion and drizzling on the squash before roasting

1 large or 2 medium onions, minced (Mine weighed 7 oz or almost 200g)

1 cup or 210g medium coarse bulgur wheat

1.1 lbs or 500g tomato passata aka tomato puree

1 teaspoon fine sea salt or to taste

1 vegetable stock cube 

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Small bunch fresh parsley

Large bunch fresh cilantro

4 spicy Italian sausages – approx. weight 11 1/3 oz or 320g

Method

Sauté the onion in a drizzle of olive oil until softened and translucent. Tip in the bulgur wheat and give the whole thing a good stir so the bulgur is coated with the oil and onions. 

Add in the tomato passata or puree, the stock cube and the black pepper. 

Add 1 cup or 240ml water and the crushed red pepper to the mixture and, over a medium heat, bring it up to a slow simmer. 

Put a lid on the pan and leave to simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the bulgur wheat is al dente.  Test it occasionally, as you don’t want it to overcook and turn to mush. 

While the stuffing simmers, remove the sausage from its skin and pan-fry it in a skillet, breaking it apart into crumbles. You want it well-browned and crispy in places. Remove from the heat and drain. 

When the bulgur wheat is done, stir in the 1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil and taste for salt. Add salt as needed. I rarely do as the stock cubes has enough salt for us.  

Mince the stems of your parsley and cilantro and chop the leaves. Add both to the stuffing and stir well.  

Cut the gem squash in halves and scoop the seeds out. 

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. (Or at this point, the filled squash can be kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to roast them.)

Put the gem squash in a tight fitting pan. Fill four of the gem squash halves with the bulgur wheat stuffing.

 

Mix the balance of the stuffing with the browned Italian sausage crumbles. 

Fill the other four squash halves with the mixture. 

Drizzle on a little olive oil and roast the stuffed squash in your preheated oven for about one hour or until the squash are softened enough for your liking. Check part way through and cover the tops with foil if they are browning too much.

Depending on how old your gem squash are, you might be able to eat the skin. If not, serve each with a spoon so your diners can scoop the flesh out with bites of the stuffing. Delicious! 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today, as I’m sure you can guess from the list below, we are all sharing winter squash recipes. Many thanks to our host, Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Acorn Squash and Apple Soup  from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Butternut Squash Latkes from Palatable Pastime
• Kar Assaly - Egyptian Pumpkin Pie from Pandemonium Noshery
• Red Pumpkin Chutney/Poonsanikai Chutney from Sneha's Recipe
• Stuffed Gem Squash from Food Lust People Love
• Winter Squash, Ginger, & Chicken Stir Fry from Amy’s Cooking Adventures

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Stuffed Gem Squash! 

 

.

Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls #BreadBakers

Made one day and baked the next morning, these Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls are the perfect breakfast at home or on the go.  

I had a very different kind of breakfast bread planned for this event but for the first time in a very long time, much to my disappointment, the recipe was a complete failure. Honestly, I’m not sure where I went wrong. 

Fortunately, these guys came out so good that I ate two back to back. I’m not kidding! Smoked sausage in sourdough crescent rolls may be my new favorite breakfast.

Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls

This recipe is adapted from An Italian in my Kitchen. Use your favorite cooked sausage in the rolls. Mine is smoked jalapeño sausage. 

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unfed sourdough starter (discard) 

1/4 cup or 60ml lukewarm milk, plus extra for a milk wash before baking 

1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 cup or 125g all purpose flour plus more for rolling out the dough 

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 cooked sausages (I used smoked jalapeño ones.)

Method

In the mixing bowl add half of the flour, the sourdough starter, milk, sugar and yeast. Whisk until combined. 

Next add the melted butter, egg yolk and beat again.

Sift in the rest of the flour and the salt. 

Knead until smooth and elastic. This is quite a sticky dough but resist the urge to add too much flour. When dough is really sticky, I use a scraper to stretch it out on a clean countertop. 

Then use the scraper again to fold it over onto itself. 

And over again. 

Repeat those three steps until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 7-10 minutes. 

Let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a circle about 13 inches or 33 cm. Cut the circle into 8 triangles.

Place one sausage at the wide end, then roll up each triangle. Wet the point of the triangle with a little water if it doesn't want to stick. 

Place the sausage stuffed rolls on your prepared baking pan. Cover the rolls with greased cling film and put the rolls in the refrigerator to rise for 12-24 hours.  

In the morning or whenever you are ready to bake, remove the crescent rolls from the refrigerator and set them aside to warm up for about an hour. When they are almost room temperature, preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. 

Brush the rolls with a little milk. 

Bake the stuffed crescent rolls for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden. 

Remove them from the pan and set on a wire rack to cool. 

We love them with mustard but you can eat these lovely sausage rolls just as they are as well. 

Enjoy!  

Today’s Bread Bakers’ theme is breakfast breads. Check out all the great recipe links below. Many thanks to our host, Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

• Breakfast Garbage Bread from Making Miracles
• Danish Crisps from A Messy Kitchen
• English Muffins from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Flax Meal Breakfast Bread from Ambriosia
• Fresh Cherry Chocolate Sourdough Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Multigrain Blueberry Bread from What Smells So Good?
• Montreal-Style Bagels from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Rhubarb Strawberry Spiced Sourdough Bread from Cook with Renu
• Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls from Food Lust People Love
• Spicy Masala Veggie Paratha from Magical Ingredients
• Sourdough Angel Biscuits from Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Crepes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Discard Pancakes from Sneha’s Recipe


                                                     
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.



Pin these Sausage Stuffed Sourdough Crescent Rolls!

 .

Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragù - Instant Pot

This Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragù is not only delicious stirred through with a fresh herby ricotta, thanks to the Instant Pot, it is also quick enough for a weeknight meal. 

I honestly don’t know what took me so long to start using my Instant Pot. As I’ve mentioned before, it took a kitchen renovation to motivated me but, boy, howdy, do I love that thing now!

Anytime I see a slow cooker recipe that starts out by sautéing or browning something in a pan on the stove first, I think, HA. I can make that in the Instant Pot and skip the stove step. And I usually do. 

For anyone unfamiliar with the term ragù, it's just a fancy (Italian) way of saying meat sauce. Merriam-Webster defines ragù as "a hearty, seasoned Italian sauce of meat and tomatoes that is used chiefly in pasta dishes and that is typically made with ground beef, tomatoes, and finely chopped onions, celery, and carrots."

Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragù with Herby Ricotta

This recipe is adapted from a slow cooker one in the New York Times cooking section. The original took six hours to cook and contains only chicken. I highly recommend the addition of the hot Italian sausage to this dish you will make and serve in less than 30 minutes in your Instant Pot.

Ingredients

For the ragù:

19 oz or 538g hot Italian sausage

1 small carrot

1 small yellow or purple onion 

4 cloves garlic

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 10 oz or 290g each)

1 can (14.5 oz or 411g) crushed or diced tomatoes 

3 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 sprig fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)

1 sprig fresh oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano)

1 ½ teaspoons red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the herbed ricotta topping: 

1 cup or 250g whole-milk ricotta

Heaping 1/4 cup chopped soft fresh herbs, such as chives, oregano, parsley or basil, or a mix

zest 1 medium lemon

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

To serve:

10 oz or 285g tagliatelle, fettuccine, linguine or other long, thick pasta, cooked al dente according to package instructions.

Method

Peel and chop the carrot, onion and garlic. 

Remove the casings from the Italian sausage and put it in the Instant Pot on sauté. Cook for several minutes using a wooden spoon to break the sausage into crumbles as it browns. 

Add in the carrot, onion and garlic. Sauté, stirring often, for a few minutes more until the vegetables soften. 

Nestle the chicken breasts into the sausage and vegetables. 

Top with the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper and a sprinkle of fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Secure the lid on the Instant Pot and set it manually to 9 minutes. 

When the time is up, safely release the pressure. Remove and discard the herb sprigs.

Transfer the chicken breast to a cutting board and use two forks to shred the chicken then return it to the Instant Pot and stir well. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package directions until al dente. 

While the pasta cooks, chop your herbs and combine them in a small bowl with the ricotta, lemon zest, balsamic vinegar and salt. 

Taste the sauce, adding more red-pepper flakes, if you like, and salt if needed.

Divide the pasta among bowls. Top with ragu and a good spoon of the herby ricotta. 

Enjoy! 

It’s MultiCooker Monday! Check out the variety of small appliance recipes my friends are sharing today. Many thanks to our host and organizer, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Meringue Kisses in Toaster Oven from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken from Making Miracles
• Beef Barbacoa Tacos from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragu - Instant Pot from Food Lust People Love
• Ropa Vieja in the Slow Cooker from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• How to Cook Jowar/Sorghum in Instant Pot from Magical Ingredients

                                                         

Multicooker Monday is a blogger group created by Sue of Palatable Pastime for all of us who need encouragement to make better use of our small appliances like slow cookers, Instant Pots, Air Fryers, rice cookers and sous vide machines. We get together every third Monday of the month to share our recipes. If you are a food blogger who would like to post with us, please request to join our Facebook group. 

Pin this Italian Sausage and Chicken Ragù!

 .