Braised Cabbage and Sausage with Chunky Basil Pesto created in partnership with LEM Products is an easy, grain free, gluten free, sheet pan dinner can be made with homemade or store bought smoked or fresh sausages!
Whether you hunt and process your own meat or go the storebought route this is a great weeknight dinner that is flavorful and nutritious!
Eat local with farm or field to table
Growing up in a hunting and fishing family its a normal occurrence to have family members gathered around a dimly lit table processing meat together. Sharing stories, drinking beer and working together as a family to put away the season’s meat.
The buzz of energy of family working together, production line style, everyone with a job to do, cutting and wrapping to complete an important task that is essential for our survival.
Growing your own food, catching your own fish and hunting for your own meat brings an appreciation of the sacrifice and work it takes to feed a family.
Sharing the experience and filling our freezers together feels so good.
Watching my own kids continue the tradition of getting excited about their food, knowing where it comes and learning how to process is really an amazing thing.
When that’s not possible, we visit local farms and support local agriculture.
Homemade sausage without hunting
Nothing is guaranteed when hunting. You can never count on a successful hunt to feed your family. But that doesn’t mean that your family can’t experience the communal aspect of processing meat together.
There are many ethical sources of delicious, nutritious meat. I suggest finding a local ranch and ordering a portion of meat from them. They usually start taking orders in Spring before slaughtering. Then the rancher will send the animal to the butcher who processes to your specs and you typically pay a flat rate per pound for the meat.
Purchasing directly from the farmer or rancher a bit more of an up-front investment but so worth it to have hundreds of pounds of local meat in the freezer. Plus you can usually also ask your butcher for the pork fat and beef bones to make your own bone broth and homemade sausages.
Equipment
Sharp knives, a large table and some willing participants are all you need to process your own meat.
Of course, great quality equipment doesn’t hurt! Recently, I was introduced to LEM™ Products who specializes in products that make your at-home meat processing even easier! LEM offers all you need to butcher, process and store your game. High quality meat grinders, sausage stuffers, dehydrators, vacuum sealers, accessories and more.
Because of my family’s love for sausage in preparation for hunting season I recently visited the LEM website and picked up a Big Bite® Sausage Stuffer. I also picked up a few varieties of Backwoods Sausage Seasonings to make it a breeze to get perfectly flavored sausage and a Casing Variety Pack. If you just want to get to sausage making and don’t want to mess around with mixing your own seasonings the premixed Backwoods Seasonings are great.
Or use whatever sausage stuffer you have access to. Alternately purchased sausage can also be used.
Ingredients
- Sausage – either homemade or purchased kielbasa smoked sausage, a garlicky rustic polish smoked sausage. Traditionally made with pork and maybe a bit of beef kielbasa is also delicious with elk or venison. Kielbasa can be boiled, baked, grilled or served cold. Served in soups, fried with onions, cooked with sauerkraut, added to bean dishes, simmered in stews, folded into casseroles or served as a cold cut on charcuterie and cheese plates. However you cook it and serve it, kielbasa is delicious.
- Cabbage – green or purple or a mix
- Cherry tomatoes
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chunky basil pesto – fresh basil, pistachios, vinegar, garlic, lemon and red pepper flakes
Step by step instructions
A simple sheet pan meal of perfectly roasted sausage, braised cabbage and bursted sheet pan cherry tomatoes. So simple an so delicious.
- Prepare homemade sausages, or skip down to Step 2 if using purchased sausage.
- Prepare Chunky Basil Pesto.
- When ready to cook preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Place sausages in boiling water and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer sausages for 15 minutes. Remove sausage and reserve ½ cup of water.
- Meanwhile, wash tomatoes and thickly slice cabbage. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place vegetables in a single layer on a large baking sheet and bake 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, push veggies to the side and place sausages on the sheet. Pierce all over with a fork and pour reserved cooking water over sausage.
- Roast 20 minutes or until kielbasa and cabbages are browned, and tomatoes are beginning to burst.
- Top with pesto and serve.
- Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 pound smoked kielbasa roughly 1 rope of sausage
- 1 large cabbage green or purple or a mix
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Smoked Kielbasa
- 4 pounds ground beef or a combination of beef, pork, and game
- 1 pound pork fat
- 1 package LEM Kielbasa Seasoning
- 1 each 32-25 mm sausage casing natural or collagen
Chunky Pistachio Basil Pesto
- 1 bunch fresh basil minced
- ¼ cup pistachios shelled and chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon lemon zest
- ⅛ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahreinheit.
- Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Place sausages in boiling water and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer 15 minutes. Remove sausage and reserve ½ cup of water.
- Meanwhile, wash tomatoes and thickly slice cabbage. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in a single layer on a large baking sheet and bake 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, push veggies to the side and place sausages on the sheet. Pierce all over with a fork and pour reserved cooking water over sausage.
- Roast 20 minutes or until kielbasa and cabbages are browned, and tomatoes are beginning to burst.
- Serve topped with Chunky Pistachio Basil Pesto.
Smoked Kielbasa
- Following directions on your LEM Big Bite Sausage Stuffer, clean and prep machine then keep as cold as possible until ready to use.
- In a medium bowl, mix seasoning packet with cold water until dissolved following instructions on packet.
- In a large bowl, mix ground beef or game with seasoned water until sticky and completely combined. Mix in ground pork fat and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Prepare sausage casings: knot one end of the casing and lightly coat the stuffing funnel with cooking spray. Slip the other end of the casing over the mouth of the funnel, making sure it is not twisted and the opening is centered around the funnel. Continue to push remainder of casing up onto funnel until you have reached the knot.
- Fill with seasoned ground meat mixture and carefully begin to stuff your sausages. Begin to force the meat into the stuffer turning the crank with one hand while using the other hand to control the thickness of the sausage as it comes out. Sausage will shrink when it cooks, so you want a nice plump sausage. But be careful you don’t overstuff or it will burst.
- Keep extruding until the casing is used up. Tie a knot in that end. You can either leave the sausage in a large coil or twist it into large links.
- Store refrigerated and covered up to two days until ready to cook.
- Use as is or cure in a 200 degree oven or smoker until sausage reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Freeze uncooked or cooked sausage for up to 6 months.
Chunky Pistachio Basil Pesto
- Place all ingredients in a small bowl and stir. Cover and refrigerate up to 7 days.
Nutrition
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