Sausage-Stuffed Baked Apples

There are some recipes I make that are so simple I hesitate to post them; this is number one on that list. However, in speaking to friends I found that so many of them who had never had this dish before, I knew that I had to include it. My mother made this all the time when I was growing up; I loved it then, I love it now, the rest of the family loves it, and now that I am "Atkins Girl" and can no longer throw a pot of pasta on the stove in a pinch, I appreciate it more than ever. There are only 2 ingredients in this dish, and it comes together super fast. As they bake, the juices of the apples combine with the juices from the sausage in a completely savory-sweet, toothsome and delicious way.


Sausage-Stuffed Baked Apples
adapted from the Joy of Cooking


6 large, tart, organic baking apples

1/2 pound well seasoned sausage meat or small links

1. Preheat oven to 375 F

2. Wash, dry, and core the apples. Scrape the opening generously to make room for the sausage. Put the cores in your compost bucket, but save any extra, edible apple bits and add them to the baking pan.

3. Stuff the apples heaping-full with the sausage, and put them in a heavy ceramic or glass baking dish just big enough to hold them. If you have any extra sausage, make little balls out of them, or cut links up into bite-sized pieces, and add them to the pan.

4. Put the pan into the oven, and bake them until tender and a fork easily pierces them, about half an hour to 45 minutes.

These are lovely served with well-seasoned brown rice, or noodles - be sure to serve the juices as a tasty sauce. Come to think of it, latkes would be completely delicious, too, if potatoes are on your list of foods you can eat.....



Notes: Apples - I like to use Pink Ladies, Fujis, Baldwins.... Whatever apple you choose, just pick one that cooks well and has a strong flavor. Why Organic? Aside from the usual reasons, if you must pick and choose how to spend your food dollars, apples are one of the key places to do it. The poisons used on apples are particularly likely to stay with them when you eat them. Sausage: my Mama used conventional breakfast sausage links, and I, of course, being Foodier Than Thou, make my own sage-seasoned sausage with pork from my rancher friend, Mary Pettis Sarley. I have never used a non-sage sausage for these, but another type might make interesting results. If you do, would you please report in? Use your judgment, but do try to get as sustainable a sausage as you can. If you use a very lean sausage, such as turkey or chicken, you may wish to add a little water or apple juice to the pan. The Pan: Why should the pan be "just" big enough? If you put the apples in a bigger pan, and/or a lighter pan, the juices will evaporate, and you will not have the yummy sauce. Moreover, the pan will be harder to clean, because the juices will stick to the pan as they evaporate.