At some age (or mindset), most of us start paying more attention to our diets. Perhaps it’s a conscious decision: an effort to lose weight, boost a sluggish metabolism, or regain a healthy glow. Or perhaps dietary changes are medically mandated, doctor’s orders to: bring your blood pressure or cholesterol levels down, even change your diet because you discover you are borderline diabetic. Or perhaps your social awareness changes, and you decide: to give up meat once a week, or forgo meat entirely and become a strict vegetarian. Whatever your reasons, you find yourself reading ingredient lists and nutrition labels, and passing over bags of greasy chips and sugar-laden sweets, reaching instead for fresh fruits, veggies and whole grain products.
But what do you do when you have a favorite food you just can’t give up? Perhaps chocolate is your weakness, or you love the taste of white bread and pasta. Do you compromise by switching to dark chocolate, or whole grain white bread and pasta? Or perhaps you can’t imagine mornings without certain breakfast meats like sausage or bacon. Do you compromise by switching to turkey varieties or vegetarian versions? What if you find your choices lacking the full and robust flavors you’ve grown accustomed to? It can take a while for your taste buds to make the adjustment. Fortunately, there are cooking methods to make those challenging transitions more palatable.
While vegetarian varieties of sausage patties and links can be composed of many ingredients including soy proteins, wheat gluten, legumes, grains and vegetables, the following cooking method, shared by Rodney Williams of the Strawberry Creek Inn B&B, enhances the appeal and flavor of vegetarian sausage to the point of making it a desired option at breakfast instead of just a compromise.
Easy, fast and full of flavor, experiment with the method below and see if it doesn’t satisfy your tastes as much as traditional sausage. If vegetarian sausage is new to you, you might be pleasantly surprised!
Vegetarian Sausage Cooking Method
(featured on Inn Cuisine, cooking method courtesy Rodney Williams of the Strawberry Creek Inn B&B)
– works with any brand and type of frozen vegetarian sausage –
- frozen veggie sausage patties or links
- quality olive oil
- mushroom stock (may substitute vegetable stock if necessary)
- salt and pepper to taste
- chopped, fresh basil or sage
Coat the bottom of a cast-iron or non-stick skillet with olive oil and heat to medium high. Add frozen veggie sausage and brown quickly on all sides. Standing back, pour enough mushroom (or vegetable) stock over sausage to create a very shallow pool around the sausage. Cook just until stock begins to thicken and soak into the sausage (less than 1 minute). Cover and remove from heat. When ready to serve, sprinkle with salt, pepper and fresh herbs.
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Interesting post. I am a vegetarian but usually don’t eat products that are supposed to taste like meat, since I don’t like it:) I might have to try this though.
Maria – I appreciate your comment—it makes perfect sense. I’m not a vegetarian, but I don’t go out of my way to consume meat either (preferring veggies, grains & fruits). That said, I’m definitely not a fan of pork, and resist pork sausage at all costs. Vegetarian sausage gives people like me an alternative to traditional breakfast meats while still enjoying a similar texture.
What a wonderful recipe. Your photo makes me want this instead of a real pork or turkey sausage. That’s something to be said, as pork is very tempting even for us folks that don’t really dig on swine! I will be making this and coming back to comment on how it is.
I must say I have not tried veggie sausages….I think I am missing out.
I love vegetable patties and burgers and sausage links…I find that there is more depth of flavor sometimes over the meat filled ones! Thanks for sharing this!
Brilliant…I’ve always hated veggy sausage as it was sooooo dry when I cooked it.
interesting and tasty! i’ll admit, imitation meat products need lots of help in the flavor arena, so i like this idea a lot! and hey, anything making use of the cast-iron skillet is okay in my book.
Oh my, sounds so good. And looks good!
Fun to find you (through Amy).
Sandy
This reminds me very much of what my mother used to make in Singapore, a vegetarian version of pork springrolls, called ngau hiang, which means 5 spices, the 5 spices being one of the main seasoning.
Fabulous blog! I love the concept…it’s a dream of mine to one day run a bed and breakfast and bake muffins, and scones, and gooey afternoon cookies. Beautiful work–I’ll definitely be back!
I am so excited to see this recipe! Thank you for a truly delicious way to prepare vegetarian sausages!
This looks delightful! I’m a vegetarian and eat veggie alternatives to meat every now and then. Haven’t tried the sausages yet but I definitely want to try this recipe
Love the blog by the way!
This looks yummy and I will definitely try this. Thanks for this recipe!
I love this post! I’m vegetarian, so really appreciate this
The mushroom stock is a really great idea! I’d make this recipe with morningstar sausage or some smoked tempeh.
I’m pretty much a “flexitarian.” I eat chicken and a bit of fish, but no other meats. It’s just not for me. However, I love the taste & texture of vegetarian sausage patties. I thought I loved MorningStar sausage patties, or “breakfast patties” or whatever they call them, but now they make the same one with maple flavor. It is sooo good. Great texture, no animal fat, no guilt. It’s hard not to make two more after eating your first pack of two. I’ll have to try your way of making them even better… can it be? We’ll see. Thanks for the share. ~ Foodie Les