Italian Sausage

I've recently tried to find a better Italian Sausage recipe from the one I played around with a few years ago. The main reason is I was wanting it to put into lasagna. So, I went to Rachel S., who has played around far more than I with sausage recipes. We like what we've gotten from her and she said I can share it with you. I'm not sure I'm sharing it exactly as she does it because of how I wrote it down for what I had on hand, but its good! This goes great in lasagna and last night we used it to top pizza. I have had it at Rachel's in a calzone. This will have a different look than most Italian sausage you might be used to because in the States it's usually in casings. But you can do it like this and still have the right flavor. This is not the type of sausage you would want to make for putting into sausage biscuits or breakfast casseroles/quiches. I would use my recipe for breakfast sausage if you're wanting something like that. Anyway...hope this helps you make more things or have variety for pizza toppings at least! Sometime in the fall I'll share an Italian Sausage Soup recipe that we really like.

Mild Italian Sausage
2 lbs (about 900g) ground pork
2 tsp salt (you could add just a bit more and it would still be good)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp fennel seed (Brian doesn't like the texture of fennel seeds so we grind it to powder)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp minced onion (I don't have this, I sub about 1/4 tsp onion powder)
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Mix everything together well with your hands. Shape how you want or just stir-fry up. When I make it I use one pound and freeze the other for later.

**Ground Pork--The best mix for sausage is to have about 2/3 pork and 1/3 fat if you are having someone grind it for you. In grocery stores in China I just use whatever they have on hand and it works fine.