Quinoa and Chicken Sausage

What do you know about Quinoa?  About all I knew was that it is a South American seed that is currently in vogue as the latest "super food".  I still don't know much beyond some of the nutritional benefits and a bit of the history of its use.  It might find its way into our kitchen on an infrequent basis because the price point to my mind doesn't favor using it in place of other products.

I don't do food fads so I had pretty much ignored any mention of Quinoa.  This changed last week.  Our son and his fiance told us about a casserole made with Quinoa and Chicken Sausage and some other things as well.  We thought it sounded good and had them send the recipe.

Finding chicken sausage is not easily done, at least not in this area.  Besides, why should Uncle T buy chicken sausage when he can make it himself?  I had come by some pre-seasoned  chicken fajita strips and they had been taking up space in the freezer.  I thawed them and some chicken leg quarters all of which were ready to process on Sunday afternoon.

So, today you'll get two recipes, one for the smoked chicken sausage and the Quinoa and Chicken Sausage casserole.

Smoked Chicken Sausage

4 lbs ground chicken
2 T kosher salt
1 T Uncle T's seasoning mix #2
2 T dried mint leaves
1.5 T anise
1 T fennel seed
1 T turmeric
1 cup Feta cheese, crumbled
3/4 cup red wine
Optional
1 tsp Prague Powder # 1, if smoking the chicken
9 feet hog casings

Grind the chicken, or you can get ground chicken from the store.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix thoroughly until the mixture is sticky.  Form the chicken into links.

If you have a sausage stuffer, you can use hog casings.  I used 32 mm casings.  Let hang for an hour then smoke them until they reach 160 degrees internal temp.  Chill in ice bath and package.

If you don't have a sausage stuffer you can use sections of plastic wrap.  Lay the chicken mixture, about a 2 inch ridge, along one edge of the plastic wrap.  Roll the chicken mixture up in the plastic wrap forming a log and tie off the ends.  Poach the logs in 180 degree water until the chicken reaches 160 degrees internal temp.  Chill in ice bath and package until ready to use.

In the stuffer ready to go.

Freshly linked and ready to hang.

                       

Out of the smoker and chilled.

Now for the Quinoa and Chicken Sausage casserole.  As a reminder, this is not my recipe but one I got from my son and his fiance.  I think they got it from Advocare.

Ingredients:
1 cup Quinoa, soaked and rinsed, uncooked
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, julienned  (I bought ready cut packed in oil)
1 T olive oil (I used the oil from the tomatoes)
2 stalks kale, destalked and cut in bite size pieces (I figure they mean leaves, I doubled the kale)
5 chicken sausages, cooked and sliced into bite size pieces.
1/4 cup red onion, diced (I made thin slices instead)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp garlic salt (I used 1 T of garlic powder)
fresh Basil, to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Put Quinoa and chicken broth in large casserole dish.  Spread kale on top.  Spread the sun dried tomatoes evenly on top.  Add the red onion.  Drizzle the olive oil over the ingredients.  Season with salt, pepper and garlic salt.  Spread the chicken sausage over the top of everything.

Put in the oven at 350 and cook about 60 minutes until the Quinoa is fully cooked.  Let cool 5 - 10 minutes and serve with fresh Basil.

I used my 5 qt cast iron covered casserole.  I let it go 45 minutes with the cover on then tested the doneness of the Quinoa.  It went back in the oven for another 10 minutes with the lid off.

Hot out of the oven.

Hot, tasty, and very filling.

This recipe was quite tasty and I believe it would do well with other grains as well.  This one dish made enough to feed us for two suppers and one good lunch for me.  As I said, very filling.  Give it a try.

Uncle T