13 July 2011


Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?  We sure do.  That's why this recipe from February's issue of Cuisine at Home caught my eye.  It was one of those recipes where, halfway through, I thought it was going to be a flop, but in the end it turned out just fine.


Apple Chicken Sausage Boats


Ingredients:
1 lb. ground chicken
1 apple, cored, peeled, and grated
¼ cup onion, minced
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp olive oil
4 medium eggs


Directions:
Combine chicken, apple, onion, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in a medium bowl.  Divide into four equal portions.  Shape each portion into a 1” thick patty, then press a 2” wide well in the middle of each patty, leaving a thin layer on the bottom of the patty.


Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add patties, well side down, and cook until browned, about 4 minutes.  Turn over.  Gently crack an egg into the well of each patty.  Cover pan and cook over medium-low heat until egg whites are set and yolks begin to thicken, about 7 minutes.


Serve warm.


Makes 4 servings.

This is pretty tasty!  I've made my own chicken sausage before, so I was familiar with that, but the whole egg in a well thing was new to me.  The chicken mixture was kind of loosey-goosey and I didn't think the patties would hold their shape after I put them in the pan.  Especially since you are supposed to put them in with the well side down.  I thought the whole thing would collapse and there would be no well.  But I was pleasantly surprised when I turned them over.  The well was still perfectly intact!  But then I came upon problem number two: my eggs didn't fit inside the wells.  Either my wells were too small or my eggs were too big, but a lot of egg white spilled out of the well and into the pan.  But that ended up okay too; I just used the turner to kind of "cut away" the extra egg white from the sides of the patties after it was cooked.  In the future, I would try using medium eggs instead of large, which is what I usually buy.

The original recipe called for ½ cup of minced onion, but I read it wrong and only put in ¼ cup.  I'm glad I did, because even as it was, my husband's only complaint was that there was too much onion.  If you're not a big fan of onion, use only 2 tbsp.  Personally I liked the onion, but I could see how some people would think there was too much.  So adjust that according to your tastes.

The combination of the apple and the brown sugar gives this sausage a sweet flavor.  Jim loved that, but I would probably take the brown sugar down a notch if it was just me.  I would probably only do half a tbsp.  Also, the original recipe called for cayenne pepper instead of the red pepper flakes, but I don't keep cayenne on hand.  The red pepper flakes worked really well to give the sausage just a hint of spice.  If you like your sausage spicier, increase the pepper flakes.



 The recipe in the magazine called for serving these on top of toasted ciabatta halves, but I didn't have anything like that on hand so I made pancakes to go with them. 


Cross-section.  The yolks were cooked perfectly to our preferences.  If you like your yolk firmer than this, cook a little bit longer than the 7 minutes stated in the recipe.

We love having breakfast for dinner, so these sausage boats will be going into the regular rotation.

This recipe was included in the sausage recipe linky party over at Savannah's Savory Bites

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3 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for linking up with me. I make a similar chicken sausage recipe. I am glad I found your site. I'll check it out and subscribe. Make sure and check back next week, so you can vote for your favorite recipe on the hop. I'll feature the recipe that wins.

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  2. This looks divine! I love breakfast for dinner, but I get tired of the "same old, same old" recipes. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Thanks for entering my sausage link-along. Please return and vote for your favorite recipe. I will feature the winner with a separate post that includes me preparing the winner's recipe.

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