Chicken Feta Spinach Sausage

It’s grilling season and what better to throw on the grill than sausages. Being from Wisconsin, we are known for a few things, and one of them is the bratwurst. The brat is really a standard item on any grill in Milwaukee, and commonly found during the tailgates at any sporting event, be it the Milwaukee Brewers or the Green Bay Packers. I am coming out and saying that I love brats. While living in Dallas, Texas, you could not even find a brat at a grocery store, so it was good to move back and get some really good brats. Being home to Johnsonville, Klement’s, and Usinger’s, you are sure to find a great brat while in Wisconsin.

For some time now I have been making my own sausage for some time now, and it has a lot of Asian flavors. My wife tends to like them but one thing is for certain, her favorite specialty sausage is the chicken feta spinach sausage. As I often frequent Pick-n-Save for these types of specialty sausages, I thought what the heck, I am going to make my own, and make them better! So after a recent sampling and careful investigation of these sausages, I took some time and made my own. If you are looking to impress at your next bbq, and have a food grinder and sausage stuffer, then this recipe is right up your alley.

Ingredients:

• 7 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken (I used roughly 5 lbs of thighs, 2 lbs breasts), ground
• 1 bunch of fresh spinach, cleaned and stems removed, finely chopped
• 10 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tbsp salt
• 3 tbsp white pepper
• 3 tbsp dried majoram
• Casings, cleaned and rinsed

If you do not have a food grinder, get your chicken ground up at your local butcher. I have my own grinder, so I cut all of my chicken into strips and fed them through my grinder. Add your chicken to a large bowl and mix in your spices, cheese, and spinach, and combine really well.

What I recommend you do now is to take a little bit and cook it in a skillet to taste for flavors. If it needs more spice, add some.  Get your flavors right before you begin to stuff your sausages. Once you have perfected your flavors, it’s time to get stuffing. Prepare and lube your stuffer. I use a KitchenAid appliance with the proper attachments. This works well, however it does take a bit of time.  Take about three feet of your casing and feed it onto the stuffer, tying a knot at the end. Slowly add in your chicken mixture, andwork out any air pockets that seem to go through into the casing. Stuff the sausage to your desired length, and continue this process until all the sausage has been stuffed. Spin sausage to make a good sealed ‘twist’, clip with a scissors, and store them in ziplock bags to store in the freezer for later use.

The seven pounds of chicken made about 19 brats, and saved me about $10.00 in the process. Was it worth it? Not sure, but my wife states they are spot on and now she has a surplus of them. Enjoy.