Monday, August 17, 2009

Helpful Husband

I was feeling particularly unmotivated last Friday when I was planning my menu for this week. My usual Internet recipe search left me unfulfilled and I was too tired from staring at spread sheets all day to thumb through our library of cookbooks. I decided to get Forrest involved in the planning phase of this whole process. So as I left for the gym I gave him the challenge to find one recipe to add to the weekly menu. It could be anything, from any source, with any ingredients - as long as I didn't have to find it myself. As a self proclaimed control freak this was a huge feat for me. I knew relinquishing control of the deciding factors of the meal could be dangerous, but it was a price I was willing to pay.

As I returned from the gym he had a relaxed settled appearance when I entered the house. He was watching TV with only the remote in his hand. I fully expected him to be buried in cookbooks or researching recipes on the Internet. He boasted that he had picked the recipe 5 minutes after I left. He went straight for his favorite cookbook. The book is titled "Who's Your Mama, Are you Catholic, and Can you Make a Roux?" - Forrest doesn't like this book because of how it is structured or because of his past successes with its recipes. He has never even cooked from it - he likes it because of its catchy name and the fact that it is written by a lady who was born and raised in St. Martinville, LA (a town some of his relatives live/lived in as well). After he settled for the source he said he came across a recipe very quickly that he knew he wanted to try. He decided on something called Southern Sausage Cake. Coming from a sugar deprived Type 1 diabetic, anything with the word cake in it has to be a winner and according to him "cake and sausage are his two favorite foods". He was inspired - it "HAD to be good".

Although I was a little skeptical, I couldn't turn down the help I blatantly requested. So this weekend I embarked on making Southern Sausage Cake with a heavy heart. It sounded weird and I had no idea what to expect. I couldn't even imagine what it would taste like. I liked all of the ingredients of the dish so I was definitely intrigued as I put them all together. As the cake baked in the oven I told my mom about it. She said "it sounds like stuffing". And she was right! It tasted like stuffing bars. It was AMAZING! This dish could be served for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It was very satisfying with such an appealing flavor. Job well done, Forrest!

Southern Sausage Cake
Adapted from "Who's Your Mama, Are You Catholic, and Can You Make a Roux?" by Marcelle Bienvenu

1 pound of hot bulk sausage
1/2 cup of chopped onions
1 cup of chopped red bell peppers
1 cup of chopped green bell peppers
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of grated pepper jack cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/4 teaspoon of Tabasco
1 1/2 teaspoons of a combination of salt, black pepper and garlic powder
2 cups of biscuit mix
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of sour cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Brown the sausage and vegetables in a skillet over medium heat.

Drain off excess oil. Add the cheeses, egg, hot sauce and seasoning mix.

Make a batter with the biscuit mix, milk and sour cream.

Gently fold the sausage mixture into the batter

and put into a greased 9x9 inch baking tin.

Bake until light browned, about 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. At this point, it can frozen for later use.

To serve, cut into squares.



31 comments:

Josie said...

that looks delicious!

Molly Jean said...

I love the name of the cookbook! That's hilarious! And apparently it has great recipes because this looks divine...

Tiny's Treats said...

This defintiely sounds like a yummy man dish. I thought I was the only one who plans the weekly menu in advance.

Cookie said...

Wow, this sounds really good! I've never heard of sausage cake before but I've made beef pies using Bisquick before and it turned out really yummy.

Spryte said...

Yum!! That sounds and looks delicious!

Tiffiny Felix said...

Hee, hee...good husband ;) Looks super yummy!

test it comm said...

This this savoury cake sounds so tasty!

Kerstin said...

So it's kind of like a super packed and savory biscuit? That does sound super yummy!

Hilary said...

I can't wait to make this! My husband will go crazy for it, it's like a jazzed up sausage biscuit sandwich, his fav. I now have no fewer than six recipes from your blog starred in my reader :)

Karena said...

I stumbled upon this post when I frantically ran through FoodGawker for breakfast ideas. It's baking right now and smells SOOOOO good! I wish I didn't have to wait til office breakfast tomorrow morning!!

Pearl said...

Oh Yum! thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. You rock!

Unknown said...

How spicy is it. I have little o es and they don't like things that are to hot. Could I leave the tBasco sauce out?

Brenda said...

Hi, I live in France so cannot get the biscuit mix. Can I make it myself? What is in it?
I would love to try this, it sound yummy, or nom, nom as they say here.

Thanks

a concubine said...

Brenda, you can make your own biscuit mix. I don't know the exact measurements, but it would include a bit of baking powder. I'm not sure, given the eggs already in the recipe if it would make much difference to add shortening. Sure looks good!

Beth said...

Brenda,

Here is the recipe to make your own biscuit mix.

YIELD 7 cups
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
DIRECTIONS
1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt three times into a large bowl.
2. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
3. Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 months.
4. Use whenever your recipe calls for "Bisquick mix".

Anonymous said...

Thank you ladies, I will give it a try.

Anonymous said...

This dish is soooo good. I am not a fan of breakfast casseroles, but I have made this twice so far and we all loved it! This morning I tried something different and made them in 12 regular muffin tins! Baked at 350 for 25 minutes and they came out perfect. That way they are portion-sized and easy to just pop in the microwave for me in the mornings. If you are watching your calories like me, each muffin is about 250 calories. I also didn't have bell peppers on hand so I just used a large jar of pimentos (which is basically red bell peppers), and green onions. So delicious!!

Lizzard in the Kitchen said...

I just found your blog and this recipe and it looks amazing! I love breakfast casseroles and this looks easy and delicious. Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

I needed a 9x13 of this, so I made 1½ recipes for this size dish. I ended up using a whole green and red bell pepper ea, 1½ chubs of hot ground breakfast sausage, a whole small onion, 1½ eggs, and 1½ of the other ingredients. Since it was a 'cake', I diced the veggies instead of chopping. (Although it didn't matter, just preference) Since I didn't have Tabasco I used sriracha hot sauce. The batter was a little thick, but that's ok, bc the meat mixture thinned it a little bit. Next time, I will add green onion. It only baked for 30 min on 350°. Everyone liked it. Thanks for a different from usual breakfast casserole!

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Anonymous said...

I made this last night and it was DELICIOUS!

Anonymous said...

Took this one camping using the dutch oven...delicious

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to make this! I bet it's delicious drizzled with a little maple syrup or honey!

Unknown said...

I was looking for a recipe for sausage balls without having to roll out all the dough. I think this will be perfect. I think white pepper gravy, some scrambled eggs and a spinach salad or other fresh green salad will make a great change for dinner tomorrow night. Thanks for the recipe.

Unknown said...

Lordy this looks amazing. I'm gonna try this out on the hubby, then try and make it for Christmas Morning.

Unknown said...

Lordy this looks amazing. I'm gonna try this out on the hubby, then try and make it for Christmas Morning.

Anonymous said...

This has become one of my favorite go-to breakfast dishes! I sometimes bake it in large muffin pan and freeze to pull out as wanted.

Unknown said...

Hi,
I am in New Zealand and wondered what would be equivalent to biscuit mix or what is biscuit mix

Anonymous said...



Here is the recipe to make your own biscuit mix.

YIELD 7 cups
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
DIRECTIONS
1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt three times into a large bowl.
2. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
3. Store mixture in airtight container in the refrigerator up to 4 months.
4. Use whenever your recipe calls for "Bisquick mix".