Sausage and Winter Vegetable Supper, by Diane

First post of 2015!!! Here's to another year of fun, new recipes amongst friends :)

This dish was inspired by a Racheal Ray recipe, but I added in more winter root veggies and greens (of course). The original recipe called for cooking the sausage in EVOO, which I am usually opposed to because there is already grease in the sausage that cooks out and coats the pan. I tried it her way and wish I had stuck to just the sausage because it was really oily. The other complaint I have on this recipe is that it calls for 1/2 cup chicken broth at the end, and then cooking it covered. By the time the dish was finished cooking, it had about 2 cups of liquid in the bottom from the broth, as well as from the steam and water from the veggies that cooked out from it being covered. It resembled more of a soup, and I couldn't dump the liquid out because it had all the flavor (I made a pan sauce instead which is why it's so shiny in the photo!). I changed this for the recipe below to just a splash of broth and cooking the last few minutes with the lid off.

Overall, I really liked this dish and it was really hearty and filling yet healthy at the same time. I loved the combo of spices that I never would have thought to use! By making it with the following changes, I think it would be a total hit!

Ingredients:

2 pounds good-quality fresh Italian sweet sausage, casings removed
A fat handful sage--2 tbsp. finely chopped, 2 tbsp. coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or ground allspice
Coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds butternut, cheese or red kuri squash--peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

2 large turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

3 cups brussels sprouts
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small fresh Fresno or red jalapeno chile pepper, finely chopped, or 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Salt

1/2 large bunch swiss chard, chopped coarsely
3 tbsp chicken stock

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix the sausage, finely chopped sage, fennel seed, cloves and lots of coarsely ground black pepper.
2. Heat a large skillet with a lid over medium-high. Add the sausage mixture and cook, breaking into large pieces with the back of a spoon, until browned, about 6 minutes.
3. Add the remaining ingredients through stock. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock and cover. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender, 18 to 20 minutes. For the last 5 minutes of cooking remove the lid until the liquid has evaporated.