Sausage, Mushroom and Potato Dinner

Meat and potatoes have such hearty, comforting personalities. When you combine both, you get a very satisfying dinner. For this dinner, I attempted to make mashed potatoes and gravy in the form of a casserole. I used sausage and mushrooms as the base of the gravy and topped it with fluffy and creamy mashed potatoes. With crispy, golden cheese to top it all off, we were very pleased with the results. With a side of green beans (which happen to be my favorite side dish), this dinner is beautiful enough to serve for the holidays and simple enough for any ordinary dinner.

Meat Filling:

1 -1 1/2 lbs sausage (Polish, turkey, chicken, Italian, etc.)

12-16 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 – 1 oz dry porcini mushrooms, optional

2 Tablespoons butter

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves

salt, pepper

1/4 cup flour

2  1/4 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup heavy cream

Potato Topping:

3 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks

salt

1/3 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup half n half

1 stick butter

1 garlic clove, minced

3 eggs

1 cup cheese, shredded (Mozzarella, Cheddar, Colby Jack, Provolone, etc)

Remove the sausage from the casing. You can use any sausage that you like, pork, beef, chicken, you name it.

Brown the sausage on medium high heat in a skillet.

Depending on the type of sausage you use, you may need to add some oil to the skillet to help it brown. If it’s lean, it will need the additional oil, but if it’s a fatty sausage, it will exude plenty of grease as it cooks.

Break apart large chunks of sausage as it cooks, but don’t mix it around too much or the sausage won’t get a chance to brown. Drain the sausage on a paper towel. Meanwhile, cover the dry porcini mushrooms with about 1/2 cup of water in medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, poke a few holes in the plastic wrap and microwave for about a min. Drain the mushrooms from the water. You may want to rinse the mushrooms in water to make sure there’s no remaining grit on them. Mince the dry mushrooms.

Drain off all the grease from the skillet.

Melt the butter in the same skillet, heating it to medium high heat and add the mushrooms, onion and garlic to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook for about 10-15 minutes, until the mushrooms and onion are tender. The mushrooms will exude a lot of liquid as they cook and will shrink considerably. Add the flour and stir until it’s completely incorporated into the mushroom mixture. Cook for about 30 seconds. Gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring vigorously to prevent lumps.

Cook for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Stir in the heavy cream. Add the browned sausage to the mushroom sauce. Keep the sauce in the skillet until you prepare the potato topping.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Peel and chop the potatoes into 1 inch chunks. Place them in a pot and pour in enough water to barely cover the potatoes. Season with salt. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the potatoes for about 10 minutes, until fork tender. Drain the potatoes.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken broth, half n half, butter and minced garlic until the butter melts and the milk is frothy. Mix the potatoes in a standing mixer with a whisk attachment or use a hand mixer. Beat the potatoes on medium low speed, slowly adding the milk mixture, mixing for 1 minute.

Don’t mix the potatoes too long, or they will become gluey.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl to make sure all the potatoes are mixed evenly.

If the sausage mixture has cooled, heat it up for about a minute.

Pour the sausage mixture into a 3 quart (9 x13 inch) baking pan. Spoon the potato mixture on top and smooth it out. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top. Bake for 30-40 minutes in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted and golden.