I love to experiment with variations of the best recipes. One never knows exactly what might result from small, intentional changes. It turns out that experimenting with the recipe for Hot Sausage Sandwiches was a wonderful idea. The net result is that Food Nirvana now has two recipes for Hot Sausage Sandwiches that are significantly different from each other in the taste, texture and composition of the final product. I really love this second version the best.
One very basic change is the elimination of any sauce or sauce herbs or extra seasonings, other than salt and pepper. Thus, the resulting sandwich content is closer to what you will encounter when buying that type of sandwich from a street vendor or other fast service source. But close in concept/content doesn't begin to capture the excellent quality I developed with my other changes, described next in narrative form.
Tonight I decided to make hot sausage sandwiches ... you know the drill ... both sweet and hot Italian sausage links simmered/lightly boiled in water, rinsed, then fried/browned in a small amount of canola oil and then cut in half lengthwise ... plus separately cooking the mixture of chopped sweet onion, slices of green and red bell peppers, and thinly sliced fresh garlic, plus salt and pepper ... sautéed in a bit of canola oil. How can one go wrong with that combination?
Put all of it together, mix it, put a lid on it and keep it fairly warm on very low heat.
Note, however, that you don't do any of the above steps until you make the outstanding rolls that will hold those delicious ingredients, as described next.
There is the matter of the quality of the roll typically used to hold the delightful hot sandwich ingredients ... and that is where I tried something very different with remarkably delicious success.
I converted a frozen unrisen loaf of Rhodes® white bread into four 7" to 8" long rolls ... after some thawing time (2+ hours in a 100 degrees F proofing oven) and cutting the dough and changing the shape of the pieces into cylindrical roll lengths before the final rise ... then allowing the rising to finish, then lightly buttering the tops of the rolls, optionally cutting shallow diagonal slices (razor blade) across the tops to keep the roll tops from splitting during baking, and then doing the baking ... hot and fast with steam ... 425 degrees F convection oven for 16 minutes, rotating the baking sheet every four minutes, with steam provided by 1/2 cup of water dumped into a low shelf very hot cast iron skillet in the 425 degrees F oven at the beginning of the actual baking.
The rolls come out golden and crisp on top and slightly soft on the rest of the outside and very soft and chewy on the inside ... what a fine texture to go along with the great taste!
So, take a lengthwise partially cut through roll and load it with sausage halves and all the fixin's and then ... moan with delight.
That combination beats anything I ever had in the past relative to rolls used and thus the overall sandwich is truly great.
Totally perfect! So I rated it as exceptional per the Food Nirvana recipe rating system.
Let's proceed to make the rolls ... for that process takes a lot longer than cooking the other ingredients since we start with a frozen unrisen loaf of bread.
Oil a frozen loaf of unrisen bread lightly all over with canola oil and put it into a glass baking dish. Let the bread thaw in a 100 degrees F proofing oven for two hours, then put the soft, partially risen loaf on to a wood cutting board. If you do not have a proofing setting on your oven then let the bread thaw in a warm place in your kitchen, covered with a damp cloth, for three to four hours ... just until it is barely thawed and not much risen.
Use a pastry knife to divide/cut the loaf into four equal parts on a wood cutting board, then hand roll each part to form a cylindrical roll about six to seven inches long. Work with the dough by gently stretching it, to relax it enough so the cylinder of dough remains at least six inches long. Note that it will expand during rising and baking to around 7" to 8" long.
Put a sheet of parchment paper on a 12" x 17" steel baking tray. Note that in the recipe picture I use a special baking sheet made for holding the shape of multiple rolls while they bake. You can buy that type of baking sheet inexpensively via Amazon®. You might also note that I don't need to use the parchment paper as the special baking sheet is non-stick.
Put the four cylinders of dough on to the sheet of parchment paper with two inches of space between them.
Make a dish towel wet with hot tap water, wring it out, and cover the rolls with it.
Let the dough rise in the proofing oven for one hour (or elsewhere in your warm kitchen for up to two hours), then remove the tray from the oven and the towel from the rolls.
Optionally cut a few shallow (1/4" deep) diagonal slices across the tops of the rolls using a razor blade. That assures the roll tops will not split during baking.
Gently brush some melted butter on to the tops of the risen rolls, then allow the rolls to complete rising while you prepare the oven for baking them.
Put a large cast iron skillet on a low oven shelf.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F with a convection setting. You can use a conventional oven setting if you don't have a convection setting but the baking time will increase.
Put the baking sheet with the rolls on to a middle height oven shelf. It is nice but not essential to have that shelf contain baking stones, that when hot accelerate the baking process.
Dump one half cup of water into the hot cast iron skillet and quickly close the oven door.
Bake the rolls for a total time of 16 minutes on the convection setting, rotating the tray front to back every four minutes.
If needed, increase the baking time by only a few minutes until the tops of the rolls are golden in color.
Remove the tray from the oven and let the rolls cool a bit while you make the sausages and sauteéd vegetables.
Ingredients: (The sausage and vegetable toppings ingredients listed below are enough to make four generous hot sausage sandwiches)
For the Sausages:
2 Tbsp. of canola oil
4, Eight inch (or 8, 4") long links of Hot or Sweet Italian Pork Sausage (or a mixture of both types)
Water in a large skillet sufficient to almost submerge the sausage links
For the Vegetable Mixture:
2 Tbsp. of canola oil for sautéing the vegetables
1 large sweet onion, chopped into roughly 1/2"x1/2" pieces
1 large green bell pepper, cleaned and cut into 2" long 1/2" wide strips
1 large red bell pepper, cleaned and cut into 2" long 1/2" wide strips
1 tsp. of sea salt
1/2 tsp. of black pepper
3 large cloves of fresh garlic, finely sliced
Directions:
For The Sausages:
Add the water and the sausage links to a large size (12" diameter) skillet and turn the heat to medium-high.
Use enough water to essentially cover/almost submerge the sausage links.
Turn the sausages frequently once they boil lightly in the water, until they have cooked for about ten minutes.
Dump the sausage links and the remaining water into a colander in the sink and rinse the sausage links to eliminate any residue formed during the boiling.
Clean the skillet.
Put the sausage links back into the cleaned skillet, along with the two tablespoons of canola oil. Mix the links with the oil to coat them.
Turn the heat to medium or medium high, and continue to cook the sausage links in the oil to brown them, turning them over every two minutes with tongs for a total cooking time of about 10 minutes.
Remove the sausages to a cutting board and cut them in half lengthwise using a fork and a sharp knife, then put the halves into a medium size bowl. Set the bowl aside.
You will now use the skillet, without cleaning it, to sauté the vegetables.
For The Vegetables:
Heat the skillet over medium heat and add the two Tbsp. of canola oil, and the onion pieces, bell pepper slices, salt, and black pepper. Stir to coat the vegetables with the oil. Cook about 10 minutes with some stirring, until the onions are translucent. I like to keep the skillet covered during this process except when stirring as the retained heat hastens the cooking.
Add the garlic slices, mix well, and cook for about 3 minutes, covered, on low heat.
Add the sausage link halves to the skillet of vegetables, along with any of the sausage juices, mix gently, and bring them up to temperature, cooking for about 5 minutes on low heat, covered.
At this point, you keep the skillet on very low heat, covered, just to keep the ingredients warm.
To Assemble The Sandwiches:
Cut the freshly baked and still somewhat warm rolls, partially through, lengthwise, with a serrated bread knife, down the middle of one side. Note the soft and chewy interior of the rolls ... so deliciously different from typical rolls used to make these sandwiches.
Place two to four sausage link halves (depends on the original length of the links) into the inside bottom portion of each roll.
Add your desired amount of vegetables on top of the sausage pieces.
Eat and moan with delight.
The obvious beverage for this meal is ice cold beer, but do remember sodas for the young people, unless you can find someone to take them away while you gorge on this food!
Enjoy!