[Recipe] Helen's Sausage-Stuffed French Bread
Being home and not feeling too well, I returned to old habits and decided to make myself some comfort food. I paged through Emeril's Potluck until I came across something that looked tasty (and that I had most of the ingredients for), on page 55:
Helen's Sausage-Stuffed French Bread
Ingredients
* two 15-inch-long French baguettes (being somewhat short of immediate cash, I skimped slightly here and went with a single 15" garlic ciabatta loaf; it turned out pretty well, but I ended up with a substantial portion of leftover filling -- see below)
* 1 pound bulk breakfast sausage
* 2 tablespoons chopped jalapeno
* 1 cup chopped green bell peppers
* 1/4 cup chopped green onions (I found this to be about one fresh stalk of green onion, chopped from white all the way through to the green portion)
* 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
* 8 ounces sour cream
* 8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
* 1 teaspoon Emeril's original essence
* chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (I ended up using preserved spice instead)
* corn or tortilla chips, for dipping
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using a serrated knife, trim the upper quarter off the length of the top of each loaf. Hollow out the center of the loaves, leaving a 1/2-inch-thick shell. Set aside. (As noted above, I used a single ciabatta loaf, halved and hollowed out -- which left me with near-overflowing loaf halves and a bunch of leftover cheese mixture. Conclusion: follow the recipe and get two French baguette loaves. *grin* )
3. Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring to break up any clumps. Add the jalapenos, bell peppers, and green onions. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft -- about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, and cheddar cheese and stir until completely melted, about 2 minutes. Add the Essence and remove from the heat.
4. Fill the hollowed-out bread loaves with equal amounts of the sausage-cheese mixture and wrap each loaf in aluminum foil. (Personal recommendation: have the baking sheet ready with the loaves lying on the aluminum foil already in place. It makes pouring the sausage-cheese mixture in quite a bit easier than trying to move the loaves around after. I was lucky enough to prepare mine this way the first time I tried this recipe.) Place the loaves on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, unwrap, and sprinkle with parsley.
5. Serve warm with chips for dipping, if desired, or cut the bread crosswise into 2-inch slices.
As mentioned above, I ended up with a bit of leftover sausage-cheese mixture. Not wanting to entirely spoil my appetite, I tried a little bit with a chip or two -- excellent all on its own! It's got quite a bit of heat to it, though; right now my lower lip and mouth have the vague feeling of sunburn that comes from spicy food which isn't necessarily temperature-hot. The loaves'll be out in about 45 minutes; I'll post my reactions and picture then.
Overall, quite tasty -- meaty, with plenty of molten-cheese goodness and plenty of spicy heat. The picture above really doesn't do it justice; I'd definitely make this again for a party or get-together.
Originally crossposted from http://kitchenklutz.dreamwidth.org/6982.html. Please comment here if you first read the post here.
Helen's Sausage-Stuffed French Bread
Ingredients
* two 15-inch-long French baguettes (being somewhat short of immediate cash, I skimped slightly here and went with a single 15" garlic ciabatta loaf; it turned out pretty well, but I ended up with a substantial portion of leftover filling -- see below)
* 1 pound bulk breakfast sausage
* 2 tablespoons chopped jalapeno
* 1 cup chopped green bell peppers
* 1/4 cup chopped green onions (I found this to be about one fresh stalk of green onion, chopped from white all the way through to the green portion)
* 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
* 8 ounces sour cream
* 8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese
* 1 teaspoon Emeril's original essence
* chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (I ended up using preserved spice instead)
* corn or tortilla chips, for dipping
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using a serrated knife, trim the upper quarter off the length of the top of each loaf. Hollow out the center of the loaves, leaving a 1/2-inch-thick shell. Set aside. (As noted above, I used a single ciabatta loaf, halved and hollowed out -- which left me with near-overflowing loaf halves and a bunch of leftover cheese mixture. Conclusion: follow the recipe and get two French baguette loaves. *grin* )
3. Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring to break up any clumps. Add the jalapenos, bell peppers, and green onions. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft -- about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, and cheddar cheese and stir until completely melted, about 2 minutes. Add the Essence and remove from the heat.
4. Fill the hollowed-out bread loaves with equal amounts of the sausage-cheese mixture and wrap each loaf in aluminum foil. (Personal recommendation: have the baking sheet ready with the loaves lying on the aluminum foil already in place. It makes pouring the sausage-cheese mixture in quite a bit easier than trying to move the loaves around after. I was lucky enough to prepare mine this way the first time I tried this recipe.) Place the loaves on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, unwrap, and sprinkle with parsley.
5. Serve warm with chips for dipping, if desired, or cut the bread crosswise into 2-inch slices.
As mentioned above, I ended up with a bit of leftover sausage-cheese mixture. Not wanting to entirely spoil my appetite, I tried a little bit with a chip or two -- excellent all on its own! It's got quite a bit of heat to it, though; right now my lower lip and mouth have the vague feeling of sunburn that comes from spicy food which isn't necessarily temperature-hot. The loaves'll be out in about 45 minutes; I'll post my reactions and picture then.
Overall, quite tasty -- meaty, with plenty of molten-cheese goodness and plenty of spicy heat. The picture above really doesn't do it justice; I'd definitely make this again for a party or get-together.
Originally crossposted from http://kitchenklutz.dreamwidth.org/6982.html. Please comment here if you first read the post here.