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breakfast sausage

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Meat & Poultry

The First Thing I Learned To Cook. Breakfast Vienna Sausages.

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Like millions of children across the Caribbean and offspring (like my daughters) with Caribbean heritage around the world, cooking Vienna Sausages (or hot dogs) in tomatoes, is the first thing we learn to cook. We start flexing that culinary freedom, with this classic Hot dog and Sauce (as my girls call it) recipe.

Like most traditional homes in the Caribbean during my childhood, our stove had the propane tank on the side of the stove and mom would never allow us to engage in it’s use (especially since our family home was made of wood and VERY easy to catch on fire). So after we prepped the onion, tomato and sausage we were using (works with any type of hotdogs, sausages or the classic recipe, which is Vienna Sausages from the can), mom or dad would crank-up the stove for us. Yea, we used matches to start the stove too – no automatic starter.

You’ll Need…

3 cans Vienna sausages
1 onion (diced or sliced)
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tomato (diced)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon parsley (chopped fine)
Optional – Scotch bonnet pepper

NOTE! I didn’t take the normal step by step images for this recipe post, so please follow along via the video below.

Prepare the onion, tomato and Scotch Bonnet pepper (if using). Wash, peel, dice etc. For the Scotch bonnet peppers, slice thin and remember to wash your hands with soap and water immediately after handling them.

Add the oil to wide sauce pan on a medium/low heat, then add the onion and tomato and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Then drain, rinse and cut the Vienna Sausages into 1/2 inch pieces. Add them to pan, followed by the ketchup, black pepper and Scotch Bonnet pepper slices. (with hot peppers, note that the raw heat will be close to and including the seeds).

Turn the heat down to low and place a lid over the pan to create a little steam. Cook for about 5 minutes. They (my girls) like it when I’d put 1/4 cup of water and an extra tablespoon of ketchup to form a sauce.

The sort of NEW step is to top with the chopped parsley and in some cases I add a tablespoon of butter. Something we never did as kids growing up. Yea, no salt.. but you can add after you hit it a taste.

What was the first thing you made as a child? Share with us @ Ask Chris.

Meat & Poultry

Breakfast Sausages With Bell Peppers.

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breakfast sausage with peppers recipe (11)

Your typical Caribbean breakfast is usually laden with ground provisions, dumplings, porridge, curries and roti (depending where in the Caribbean you are) and usually some sort of stewed salted meats (salted cod in most cases), so this recipe will not rank among those traditional type recipes. However, if you’re looking for something with wonderful flavors, brilliant colors and textures, you’ll be quite impressed with this dish. I’ll be using pork (bratwurst) sausages, but you’re free to use any sausage you like (I know some people are into turkey sausages.. just not my thing).

You’ll Need…

4 sausages
2 bell peppers (med)
1 medium onion
3 scallions
1/4 teaspoon Spanish pimentón (smoked hot paprika)
1 teaspoon veg oil
1 clove garlic
3 sprigs thyme
1/4 scotch bonnet pepper (optional)
pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

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Heat the veg oil on a low flame and add the sausages. TIP.. add about 1/2 cup water to the pan so the sausages cook before they start burning on the outside before the inside in cooked or you can also place a lid on the pan. By the time the water burns off, your sausages should be close to being fully cooked. Now turn up the heat to fully ‘brown’ them on the outside. Takes about 20 minutes or so, depending on the thickness of them.

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Remove the now cooked sausages and set aside. Then add the garlic (crushed) and onion (chopped) to the same pan and cook on low for about 3 minutes. Then go in with the thyme, black pepper, salt, scotch bonnet and pimentón. Stir well and cook for a minute.

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It’s now time to add the chopped bell peppers and scallions to the mix and stir well. The goal is to pick up all the flavors from the bottom of the pan from when we cooked the sausages.

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Let it go for about 2-3 minutes so the peppers soften up a bit, but retain a bit of texture. The sausages should be cool by now, so chop into bite sized pieces and add to the pan. Be sure to save any juices which may run off while cutting and add to the pan as well. Stir well, cook another 2 minutes and you’re all done.

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This sausage with bell peppers will have a slight kick to it from the scotch bonnet peppers, but you can certainly control that. It goes well with cassava dumplings, ground provisions, roti, coconut bake or even something as simple as toasted bread. So give it a try and enjoy!