Recipe: Artichokes with Sausages, Lemon and Sage

Three posts in one day! I'm making up for the fact that I sometimes don't have three posts in one month. But this recipe was good, so I decided to share. I posted the actual Tyler Florence recipe in the first post from today, but here's what I did. The main reason that I used canned artichoke hearts instead of fresh artichokes is that they're out of season, and I couldn't find half decent looking ones anywhere.

INGREDIENTS:

• Olive oil
• Four Macedonian pork sausages seasoned with leek and garlic (I got mine at the St. Lawrence)
• Fresh sage
• Garlic
• Minced onion
• 1 lemon, sliced paper thin
• Chicken stock
• White wine
• Butter
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 can good quality artichoke hearts
  

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Get a two count of oil smoking hot in a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Put in the sausages and cook on all sides, 7-10 minutes, until they're cooked through
• Remove the sausages, and fry 4-5 leaves of sage for 2 minutes so that their flavour infuses the oil
  
• Add the garlic, lemon, and onion, and saute until the onion is soft
• Add a couple of turns around the pan each of chicken stock and wine. Let bubble away until the sauce is reduced and thickened.
  
• Swirl in a couple of tablespoons of butter & season to taste with salt and pepper
• Drain & cut the artichoke hearts in half; add to the pan with the sausages
• Cook, covered, until the sausages and artichokes are hot
• Serve with a nice baguette or loaf of good Italian bread (as this is a Florentine recipe, the Macedonian sausages aside) to soak up the sauce, and a glass of the wine that you used in the sauce.
  

Easy and delicious, and it made enough for lunch tomorrow. The lemon gets all nice and jammy, and you can eat it rind and all. I'm lemon obsessed these days, so a bite of the sausage & artichoke with a big piece of lemon on top tasted pretty amazing to me. Especially good with the bread.