Grilled Italian Sausage with Roasted Potatoes

Recipes you can't refuse!

My mother had her own way about her, the way she made you accountable that is. That accountability included us kids for sure but even her customers at the restaurant couldn't escape her primitive way of branding her restaurant and making them feel a part of her community. The way it was done before social media.

Actually anybody who didn't want to be left out of the special things my mother cooked understood the program. As the spirit would move her she would make the dishes my grandmother taught her. They were the dishes with their roots firmly embedded in the peasant culture of Naples Italy during the early 1900's. They were for the most part one pot dishes, incredible pastry and fresh pasta.

Growing up Italian, eating was akin to breathing. It took center stage over just about everything in our lives. Of course there happened to be a restaurant in our living room. What? You didn't have one of those? Most likely not, especially in the 1950's.

My mother didn't believe in advertizing and she enlisted her own brand of intimidation to brand and market the restaurant. She had a iron clad memory and she knew everybody's name and what their weakness was for the  special things she would make. Whenever she would make those one pot meals, traditional dishes considered the food of the peasants she would call the relatives...her brother Vic, DR Edward Bove, Joe Bove and so on.

However when she made the dishes more consistent with the restaurant menu, braciole, homemade pastas of all sorts and canoli just as an example things that we wouldn't have all the time. She would call her favorite customers who she knew were addicted to her food... if they didn't show up as she expected them to , they didn't get called the next time. That's how she kept them in line.

There was a favorite story of mine. One of our good customers was a Vt State Trooper, a red headed Italian. My mother would call the state police barracks and leave a message with dispatch that she was trying to reach officer Freeze. Soon after his cruiser would be in our driveway. He knew the call meant she had one of her homemade canoli's for him.

I know it's not in vogue to eat much sausage any more but a great sausage w/ roasted baby new potatoes and broccoli rabe is a great way to bring in the summer grilling season. Limit yourself to two sausages if that concerns you! Those of you who may be reading this in our hometown of Rutland Vt you were spoiled. We had fabulous bakeries with great bread and Mrs Bellomo's homemade sausage. There was a large Italian population mostly because of the Marble Business. There were builders, stone masons, doctors, great cooks, pharmacies, beer distributors, grocery store owners, scholars and our Aunt Teresa the countess of Grove street, well you get the point. Oh by the way all of those people were just in our family.

Eat well and live long. Mrs. Tom
 

Serves four

Grilled sweet or hot Italian sausage w/roasted baby new potatoes, fennel, radishes, sweet onions

and a sauté of broccoli rabe

• 8 sausages...maybe a couple extra just in case one of the neighbors drops by

• 12 medium baby new potatoes, marks removed and washed with the skin on

• 2 medium to large sweet onions/ quartered

• 2 stalks fennel/ trimmed and the bulbs cut into similar sizes with the onion and potato

• 12 large fresh radishes, trimmed and washed

• 3 bunches broccoli rabe/ blanched in boiling water

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 7 large clove of fresh garlic chopped

• 3 sprigs of rosemary chopped fine

• 2 medium shallots/ chopped

• 2 qts of boiling water

• pinch crushed red pepper optional

• S&P

This is a new combination that I came up with this winter. Roasting the root vegetables available year round. In a large bowl place all the cut vegetables ( not the broccoli rabe) coat w/ just enough of the olive oil and add a little more than half the garlic, all the shallots, rosemary and S&P to taste. Toss the ingredients in the bowl until they are well coated and seasoned with all the herbs and spices place them in  roasting pan or I like to use my iron skillet. Into the oven at 325 for about 45 minutes shake them a few times so they roll around and both sides are seared by the bottom of the pan and roasted on the top. You can check the potatoes, when they are done your ready.

Get the grill ready! heat your grill to high and close the lid. When the clear liquid begins to surface on the sausage they are done.

While the sausages are cooking and the pan of root vegetables is about 10-15 minutes from done in a sauté pan use the remainder of the olive oil, add the garlic and brown it...then add the broccoli rabe, S&P to taste and the pinch of red pepper if you like.

 

Mrs. Tom Secret

Par boil the sausage in the boiling water for about 7-8 minutes this keeps them moist inside. Then char them up on the hot part of your grill. Accent them with your favorite spicy mustard!

Char Grilled "Day Boat" Atlantic Swordfish

Grilling with Mrs Tom

There are very few people who know that Mrs Tom has such a diverse and colorful culinary background. She has kept her outdoor grilling acumen secret for many years, yet well known to a close group of friends. Her mother a legendary chef, her brother an international award winning chef, her nephew a certified chef and culinary artist and Mr. Tom himself was a genius on the outdoor grill.

Yes we were a restaurant family, mother aunt, brother and my uncle was the local butcher. When you opened a refrigerator at our house food fell out on the floor and we had multiple ice boxes. Are you sick...no... of course you are shut up and eat this! Eat we did, it was the end all to all things and you were not allowed to leave the table unless you could convince mother you were not full but stuffed and in a bit of pain so that it would take two hands to push yourself up from the table. Most of the conversation during dinner was about what we were going to eat next.

The best things about our house were the hidden treasures in the basement, a dirt cellar  with an old wine press where my Grandfather made the wine from our own grapes. Every real Italian had a grapevine and made wine in their cellars...we were no different. My friends found this intriguing it was just normal to us and all the cousins.

Although we owned a restaurant we very seldom went out to a restaurant, my mother didn't trust them! She never liked the food anywhere else so why bother. The only time we went out was if there was some kind of occasion and my Uncle Peter would take us out. Mother would always order a steak exclaiming they couldn't mess that up. She would order it well done because she didn't trust the meat either.

Mrs.Tom has decided it was time to let the cat out of the bag and to share her outdoor grilling secrets with y'all. Look for the Mrs Tom's grilling secret at the end of every recipe, now get off the couch and try some of Mrs. Tom's wonderful ideas for your grill and we'll keep the flame burning for ya.

Mrs. Tom always says the less you mess with a truly fresh piece of fish the better. You can always dress it up with a side of grilled vegetables or a fresh salsa of some kind.

Char Grilled "Day Boat" Atlantic Swordfish, Black Pepper Lemon Basil Butter

Serves 4

Rub

1 teaspoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon fine chopped rosemary

Butter

1/4 LB fresh unsalted butter... room temp

1/2 a lemon peeled, seeded and chopped small

2 teaspoons coarse black pepper

5 leaves of chopped basil

one piece of wax or parchment paper

4-10 oz swordfish filets

virgin olive oil

the other half of the lemon cut thin with the skin on

For the butter

Once the butter is soft mash in lightly the lemon, pepper, basil don't let your butter get too soft, just soft enough to add your ingredients.

Transfer the butter to the paper and roll into a nice even log. Refrigerate...the butter will last for days in the refrigerator.

When the butter is hard again remove from the paper and slice silver dollar size medallions about 1/4 inch thick, keep in the refrigerator until you are ready to add them to the fish.

Heat your grill to a high heat

Drizzle the olive oil and coat the fish, then season with the rub evenly. Once the fire is ready make sure your grill grates are clean, start the fish on the hot part of the grill and turn one time only after 4-5 minutes on each side. Once you turn the fish place a medallion of butter on the center of the fish with a thin slice of lemon on top of the butter...close the lid

Mrs Tom's secret

Do not turn the fish more than the one time be patient with it. If you want to be sure you have fish a day old and you don't have time to catch it yourself call Mrs's Tom's nephew Chef Peter at Wulfs Fish Market in Brookline Mass, he will cut the fish just right for your grill and ship it to you next day. All the fish at Wulf's comes in daily from boats that are out one day only.

Wulf's # 617-277-2506

Good grilling Mrs Tom

Mrs. Tom Grills Italian Chicken

Gas or Charcoal Mrs. Tom works with a Rasta on the Island of Jamaica

In the spirit of the summer that is upon us Mrs. Tom decided to go shopping for a new grill. So off to Atlanta  to find the best new grills available. Mrs. Tom thinks there a might fancy and real shinny. She intends to bring a bunch of these new grills back to the show room at Proctor Gas (known around this area as the propane people).

However just a few days prior to Mrs. Tom and her staff traveling to Atlanta She decided to sneak off  for a few days of holiday and was sunning herself on the Island of Jamaica where she encountered a happy Rasta, a grilling purest trying to build a fire. The following debate ensued.

Mrs. Tom became entertained watching the Rasta struggle with the coal fire in the heat of the day she then suggested he might try a gas grill proclaiming the flavor profile difference was so little that he would never detect the slight change. OH NO MON claimed the Rasta and the debate was on.

It was agreed by both that the uniquely satisfying flavors of a smoldering grill was simply impossible to attain with any other type of heat transfer. So is it gas or charcoal? It is well know that the gas grill is much more convenient, the fire is ready in 10 minutes where a 1/2 hour is needed for charcoals to become ready. Today in the US gas grills out sell the charcoal grills almost two to one. The gas grill fire will burn continuingly while it will be necessary for you to add coals as you go along in a primitive way embraced by our Rasta. Mrs. Tom could see that the hot sun and the tending of the coals was causing the Rasta to consume additional adult beverages to combat the sun. The gas grill is more economical in the long run and clean up is much easier. In the winter in Vermont Mrs. Tom likes to keep grilling and tending fires during the Vermont winters is out of the question so along with everything else you are more inclined to use your gas grill year round.

Well Mrs. Tom felt as though the Rasta might think she was just jerking around with him and he was a difficult sell. In a gesture of friendship Mrs. Tom left the Rasta with a favorite recipe from her mother's Italian Kitchen.

Mrs. Tom Grills Italian Chicken

Mrs. Tom has always preferred the boneless chicken thighs for the grill as they stay moist and tender. This is a quick and very inexpensive meal to prepare for friends.

Serves six

8 crushed garlic cloves

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 anchovy filets packed in oil and patted dry

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 cups fresh bread crumbs

12 boneless chicken thighs

3 shallots chopped course

hot oil for drizzle (optional)

Combine the garlic, 1/2 cup of oil, anchovies, and parsley in a food processor and give it a zap until smooth dredge the chicken and set aside

Place the chicken in a bowl and cover both sides with the bread crumbs coating them evenly and place on a flat platter and refrigerate for about 1/2 hour. Prepare your grill on a medium heat. Place the chicken on the grill and cook slowly for about 15 minutes on each side turning only once.

Mrs. Tom's Secret

Mrs. Tom was not sure if she had reached the Rasta man as he appeared to be engulfed in smoke at the time. However in the spirit of detente she left him with a secret used by gas grillers who still were purist at heart as was our Rasta. She told the Rasta that he could obtain his favorite flavor profile by taking his favorite wood chips, soak them in water for about a half hour, wrap them in aluminum foil and poke holes in the foil then place them right on top of the grill and close the top creating an additional smoky flavor.

Good Grilling Mrs. Tom