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Beef Sausages & Balsamic Tomatoes
I can be really short about this. Saw this recipe in a Dutch magazine and immediately rushed to the store to buy the ingredients. Not that it needs a lot of ingredients or that it’s a complicated recipe. Not at all, quite the opposite, in fact. It’s so brilliantly simple, so beautiful and so straight forward. All you need is good quality, fresh ingredients and you won’t believe your eyes, or your taste buds, for that matter. This is my kinda cooking!
Who knew something as simple as sausages could be taken to this level?
Ingredients:
6 beef sausages
2 small red onions
1 pound cherry tomatoes
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6 garlic cloves
2 tbsp oil
fresh basil
pepper
salt
Directions:
Peel and thinly slice 6 normal sized garlic cloves. This might seem like a lot, but trust me, it’s not. It works! I’m using fresh garlic, it’s mellower.
Peel and slice each onion in 4 parts. Then cut those parts in half as well so you end up with wedges.
I opted for seasoned beef sausages, but I’m sure pork or any other type of seasoned sausage works just fine. Place them in a large roasting tray and pour 2 tbsp oil on top. Add the garlic slices and season with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Be real generous because this will also season your sauce at the same time.
Shove the sausages around, roll them around, make them do flip-flops for all I care… just as long as you get the oil all over the bottom of the baking tray and on top of the sausages. You must be pretty tired of seeing my hands by now!
Add the red onion and shuffle the whole shebang once more. I can’t stop using that word; shebang. Has such an awesome ring to it. You guys have the best slang words!
Place the sausages in a preheated oven and bake at 350F (175C) for about 15 to 20 minutes. Until the sausages start to brown.
Now just relax and kick back. Ponder the deep questions in life. Like; “Will my bathroom ever be toy free again?”. Or the more common questions like; ”Why are my love handles turning into tires?”.
Then I got up and picked some fresh basil in my toy cluttered back yard. Because you see, there’s just no point in pondering over these things when you have a 3-year-old tornado running around your house and a food blog to run.
Wash about 1 pound cherry tomatoes.
After 15 minutes I took the roasting tray out of the oven. The sausages started to brown already.
Add the cherry tomatoes.
Until it looks like some sort of funny red marble track.
Pour in 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar and shuffle the tray so it distributes evenly. I’m shamelessly promoting fair trade products, I know!
Put the roasting tray back in the oven for another 15 minutes—until the cherry tomatoes fall apart and the sausages are properly cooked.
Tear up the basil leaves. Don’t chop them, just rip them apart and leave them a little larger than you normally would.
After the sausages are done, stir in the basil and serve the sausages with a nice chunk of bread. Just bread. Here’s why; what you see below is a sauce consisting of meat juices and fresh tomato juice infused with garlic, roasted red onion, fresh basil and the sweetness & slight tang of balsamic vinegar. Need I say more?
Wow, just wow. I can only say this is food as food was supposed to be; pure and simple.
Kay’s Recipe Card
Click here for printable size.
Yum! I made something very similar yesterday from http://blogs.discovery.com/tlc-steamy-kitchen/2010/10/-cassoulet-style-italian-sausages-and-white-beans.html
Very satisfying! :)
That looks fantastic!!! I have to make this sometime! :)
A few weeks ago your site popped up while I was googling for a receipe… Jee what a delicious receipies you have published. So easy to make and such beautifull pictures. I already made a few dishes, but this one was the greatest till now…. For tea tonight I’ll prepare the bifteki with lemon wedges…. i’m looking forward to it. Hope my guests love it aswell.
Cheers,
Sue (dutch girl who lives in Auckland New Zealand)
Thank-you so much for this recipe….I’ve been looking for something different to do with beef sausage and this is great! My tornado is a picky eater(nothing with cheese of any kind) and he liked it.
Hi,
I tried this recipe with addition of British stout. I love it.
Yours was the recipe I found last night! and I’m so glad I did. We had some leftover plain beef sausages (from the butcher) and wanted to oven-bake them. Used 50/50 Spanish and brown onions and truss tomatoes as no cherry ones, and a mix of basil and Thai basil because I couldn’t see what I was picking in the dark! Took longer to cook but the result was delicious and it’s going on the list to be made again. Thanks so much! Now I need to explore your site :-)
i love your red marble track.
but oh, i’m so jealous that you can find such sausages in europe!
the bratwurst in germany is mostly all the same, bland and grey, requiring copious curry ketchup.
there is something called mettwurst which is seasoned pork but it has such a thick skin it is hard to eat.
i can buy krakauer but they are nothing as rich as what we had at costco in seattle.
oh for an italian sausage, or a beef sausage like you show here. (or just some freaking bacon.)
heehee, i’m making a balsamic reduction right now and my man walked in and said, “es riecht nach sauerbraten.” (it smells like roast cooked in vinegar marinade).
Hey Kay! I first read this recipe when it came out in 09, back when I was trying to impress a certain man.
2 years on, I’m married to that very man, and I am finally getting around to making this recipe tonight. You’ll be glad to know that a google search for “dutch girl blog about photography and food” led me straight back to you after 2 years!
I made this tonight and it was DIVINE!!! Thank you SO MUCH!! I also linked back to you on my blog. Thanks again!
Just made this last night for dinner – thank you for the recipe! I used chicken Andouille sausage with it for a kick and also added cilantro with the basil. It was quite delish and will definitely be making it again in the future :)
This recipe has been a staple in my recipe collection for the past year. It’s a success every time! I can’t say enough about how easy it is to throw together. The result is so full of rich savory flavors, it makes it more than worthwhile. Thanks, Kay, for this great little recipe! Making it again tonight and throwing a few mushrooms in. Looking forward to it :)
This has been on my “to-make” list forever, and tonight was finally the night. Absolutely delicious, served it with some simple artisian bread and that’s all it needed. The hubby & I are tussling over every bit!