Chicken and White Wine Sausages with Bacon Brussel Sprouts

My hubby has spent quite a few days over the last two weeks bow hunting for deer.  It's now bow and black powder season and almost rifle season, so today we went up to Bass Pro Shops to buy some new hunting clothes for me. The clothes I wore 2 years ago don't fit anymore - in a good way, they're way too big.  

We were a bit disappointed in the lack of options for ladies.  In fact, while I was able to get a ladies shirt, I ended up with a youth sized bib style pair of pants because all the ladies pants options (that were available in my size) were too light-weight or well over $150 a pair.  Thankfully, we found the youth pants that fit and there was one shirt that fit me that was the right thickness to wear in the cold weather.  So I'm all set to hunt.  I looked pretty good, too!

After we were done shopping for me, we went over to the guns and checked out all the black powder accessories. My husband has his father's black powder gun and he's never shot it.  He thinks it's been about 20 years since it's been fired so it is in need of a good cleaning before it can even be shot.  It took a while to figure out what to buy for cleaning the gun and firing it.  Then of course since we were near the guns, we decided to check out the rifles since we have a new hunter in the house.  Our son has a .22 that was gifted to him from my step-dad, but he and my hubby need to refinish the wood on it.  A .22 isn't great for hunting deer so we are considering options for a birthday present.  But that depends on a lot of other things down the road.  Definitely won't happen before hunting season this year.  

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because by the time we got back from all our shopping (we even had a stop at JoAnn Fabrics to price fabric to reupholster our wing-backed chairs) it was way too late to cook the dinner I had planned.  So, I whipped up something new based on what I had on hand.

This week at the farmer's market I picked up a new flavor of sausages, Chicken and White Wine.  I also got some brussel sprouts and yams.  I've also been using my cast iron skillets more and more because I'm finding I just like my meals cooked in them better.  I don't know why, but I just do.  I broke out 2 large skillets because I could see that 1 wasn't going to be enough and started cooking 2 pieces of bacon in each to get the fat going.  I cut each brussel sprout in half and sliced my sausage links.

Once the fat started rendering, I took the bacon out then I added the sausages in one pan and the brussel sprouts in the other.  I cut the bacon into pieces and threw it all into the pan with the brussel sprouts.  I probably could have cut it down before I started cooking, but oh well.  At the same time, I had 2 sweet potatoes (cut in half lengthwise and turned face down in a glass pan) cooking for 10 minutes in my microwave.  Once it was done cooking, I moved the pan to my broiler on high and cooked for 5 minutes face down and another 3 face up.

Verdict:  This was easy and tasty.  The brussel sprouts had a great flavor from the bacon and the sausages tasted wonderful.  The yams came out nice and tender which is what we all love.  The meal took a total of 20-25 minutes with prep time so it was nice and simple for us tonight.

CHICKEN AND WHITE WINE SAUSAGES WITH BACON BRUSSEL SPROUTS

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

4 chicken and white wine sausage links, sliced in pieces

2 pints brussel sprouts, each sprout cut in half

4 pieces bacon

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat 2 cast iron skillets to just over medium.

2. Add 2 pieces of bacon to each skillet.

3. When the fat begins to render, remove the bacon to cutting board and in one pan add the brussel sprouts and in the other add the sausage pieces.  Turn sprouts in pan to coat in bacon fat.

4. Cut the bacon into pieces then add all the bacon back to the brussel sprout pan.

5. Cook until the bacon and sausage is cooked through, turning sprouts frequently so they do not burn