Sausage Links with Pineapple

o.m.g. I heart fresh pineapple.

Seeing as this was my first experience purchasing, cutting, and coring a fresh pineapple, I think it turned out pretty dang fabulous!

I knew I liked pineapple, but getting to nibble a fresh bite of this while prepping for this recipe, was oh so worth the effort of haphazard chopping happening in my kitchen last night lol.

I stumbled upon the recipe purusing my Better Homes and Gardens mag for March, and was able to stick to my motivation enough to follow through with acutally cooking it hehe. Which was great, considering as soon as I shut my front door with my grocery bags after work, the clouds suddenly clapped together and deluged our city in some desperately needed showers. So I spent the darkened stormy evening puting around in my kitchen :)

I love that there really were only two ingediants that I had to actually purchase too! A small shopping list always has me more motivated to test and keep a recipe hehe.

There are a few renditions I plan on creating from this core recipe as well:

1. Add brown rice when needed to feed more or hungier people
2. Use pre-cooked sausage and nix poaching for a faster less expensive meal
3. Nix the sausage entirely, add sweet onions and peppers to pineapple, and toss over brown rice for a vegetarian version
4. Use the pineapple as a stand along side dish

Done and done.

RECIPE:

Ingrediants:

6 fresh sausage links (1-1.5 lbs)
1 750 ml bottle white wine or 4 cups water
2 cups water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/2 tsp black black peppercorns
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp butter
1 pineapple, peeled cored and sliced ino 2 inch pieces
3 tbsp pineapple juice from pineapple
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (or favored hot spice)
1 tbsp packed light brown sugar

Instructions:

Poach the sausages if not precooked. In a 4-6 quart dutch oven over medium heat, combine the white wine or water, 2 cups water, sugar, salt, and peppercorns. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to barely a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Add sausage and cook, partialy covered, for 10 minutes. Remove sausages with a spatula (do not pierce through the casings!) and set aside.

In a 12 inch nonstick skillet, heat olive oil and butter, and add the sausages. Slightly brown on all sides for 8-10 minutes. Carefully add pineapple juice to skillet. Increase heat to high. Roll sausages in pan until the juice is thickened into a glaze, and transfer sausages to a pan. Add pineapple to the skillet. Sprinkle salt, red pepper, and brown sugar over pineapple. Cook for 3-4 minutes until the pineapple is caramelized. Serve immediately.

Servings: 6
Calories: 469
Protein: 11g
Carbs: 25 g
Fat: 27 g
Sodium: 820 mg