Weeknight dinner – charred Chinese sausage

Some nights I am content to spend a couple hours in the kitchen, challenging myself with new recipes or ingredients. Other nights, I want something interesting, but simple. This is that kind of a meal. Chinese sausages are charred in the oven and served with soba noodles and a crisp salad. These sausages were not something that I typically buy. I have seen a number of cooking shows making use of them, so when I came across them in the grocery, I decided to give them a go and create an easy charred Chinese sausage meal.

Ingredients

5 Store bought Chinese sausages, such as these pork sausages found at the local Hannaford. I am guessing there are many brands of varied qualities out there, but this is what was at hand

2.5 – 3 ounce of Soba noodles, such as these, found in our local Hannaford

Mixed green salad of your choice. Do include radishes in your salad! The crisp and spicy kick they give, goes incredibly well with the sweet sausage

2 scallions, chopped – green and whites

For the dressing:

6 Tbsp. grapeseed oil (or olive, if you prefer)

3 Tbsp. rice vinegar

1 Tbsp. honey (substitute in sugar, if no honey on hand)

1 Tbsp. mirin

3 Tsp. low sodium soy sauce

Instruction

The glory of this recipe is the simplicity and how quickly it comes together. Heat oven to 350 F. Put sausages in greased oven safe pan (preferably cast iron) and put into oven. After 15-20 mins, turn sausages. They should be charring nicely, with a crisp outer skin. Bake another 15-20 mins until cooked through (160 F for internal temp). Cooking sausage in the oven was a revelation for me some years ago. I love the charred exterior that you get, as well as the fact that the cook top evades the typical splatter factor!

While the sausages are cooking away, follow instructions on Soba package. Drain and set aside noodles. Assemble salad. Plate both salad and noodles. Put all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously. Taste and adjust to your liking. I prefer a little less vinegar and a bit salty sweet, but tinker until it is perfect for your taste. Dress the noodles and salad and add sausages over the noodles.

Why I loved this recipe

I knew to expect these Chinese sausages to be on the sweet side. The sweetness paired perfectly with the crunch of the salad and the punch of the Asian dressing. It literally hit all notes…sweet, salty, spicy, sour! The soba adds that last perfect bit of nutty, earthy flavor.

This recipe could be tweaked to use crunchy cabbage and carrots for a slaw, rather than salad, or Udon, rice or other noodles to mix it up. So many options! This one will be on my easy weeknight meal repertoire from here on out!

If you like this recipe, you might also like my recipe for Asian inspired veggie salad feast with pork