Three-Cheese Sausage Muffins #MuffinMonday

A wonderful savory muffin with cheese and pan-fried smoked sausage, these three-cheese sausage muffins also have just a little kick from the addition of cayenne pepper.

Cards on the table: I am not a sweet person. (Although my friend, Shelly, assured me last night that I am. Thanks, Shelly!) What I am trying to say is, I prefer savory dishes to sweet ones every time. For the past few weeks, at least since I joined Muffin Monday, all of the muffins have been sweet so I had recipients in mind whenever I was baking. This week it’s all about me! me! me!

I baked these last Thursday in preparation for posting on Monday and Friday morning I woke at 4:20 with a sense that someone was calling my name. I believe it was these muffins. Do you know how hard it is to go back to sleep with a muffin shouting your name? Nigh impossible. Through sheer will and earplugs I managed to get back to sleep, rising at 7 a.m. to let the dog out and silence the muffins. I ate two in a row. Revenge was sweet. Or rather, savory.

The original recipe from The Pioneer Woman called for a generous amount of cheese already but because I am a fan of cheese platters, I always have little bits and pieces of leftover cheese in my freezer. I added Brie and Camembert to the mix, along with some smoked sausage because when I don’t add bacon to something, I like to add sausage. Fact. Also, there is no such thing as too much cheese.

Ingredients
7 oz or 200g smoked sausage
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional but highly recommended)
12 oz or 340g cheddar cheese (The original recipe called for Colby Jack but I have yet to see that in Cairo, at least not at my little local store.)
2 3/4 oz or 80g EACH Camembert and/or Brie
1 cup or 240ml milk
1 egg 
1/4 cup or 55g melted butter 

Method 
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and generously grease your muffin tin. I would suggest putting the batter into a greased tin rather than muffin cups because the cheese in these makes them bake up lovely and browned and crunchy all over. You’d miss that in a paper cup. I used non-stick cooking spray.

Slice 14 very thin rounds off of your sausage then chop the rest into small pieces.

Gently fry the round pieces in a non-stick skillet until they are lightly browned on both sides and have just rendered their fat. Drain on a paper towel. We are going to use these to decorate the tops of the muffin so they will cook the rest of the way in the oven.

Tip the rest of the sausage into the pan and fry until they are brown and rather crispy. Drain on a paper towel.

Meanwhile, grate your cheddar cheese and cut your Camembert and Brie into little chunks.

Whisk together your dry ingredients, then stir in the cheddar cheese. Add in cayenne pepper if desired.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, milk, and butter together.

Pour milk mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until it is just combined.

Fold in the Camembert, Brie and chopped sausage.

Spoon the batter into your very well greased muffin tin. Top each filled cup of batter with one of the 12 best-looking rounds of sausage. Eat the two leftover ones. Baker’s bonus.

Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are looking browned and crispy and delicious and you can’t wait another second to eat them.

Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes then use a non-pointy knife to loosen/remove them from the muffin tin.

Enjoy!

Salmon Potato Cakes

It’s three days after Thanksgiving and your family is tired of leftovers.  And you STILL have mashed potatoes.  Here’s a recipe that will fool them into thinking they are getting an entirely new dish, while you get to empty the refrigerator just a little bit more.   This is so tasty that it is worth making extra potatoes the next time, so you will have leftovers.

Ingredients

Leftover mashed potatoes – weighing three times as much as your salmon – Today, I had 540g or 19 oz.

Salmon filet  - weighing a third as much as your potatoes – so I bought a salmon filet of 180g or 6.3 oz.

Handful of green onion tops (with a little extra for garnish)

50g or 1 3/4 oz sharp cheddar cheese

1 egg

Bread crumbs

Sea salt

Black pepper

Cayenne pepper

Olive oil

Method

Salt and pepper the salmon filet and gently pan-fry it with a little olive oil, in a non-stick skillet.  Put the lid on and keep the fire low.

You are going to get some color but you don’t want a hard crust.

Turn it after about five minutes and cook on the other side for another five minutes, still covered.  

Turn the fire off and let it rest, covered, in the pan while you get your other ingredients ready.

Chop the onion tops very, very finely.   Grate the cheddar cheese.  Lightly beat your egg.

Remove the salmon from the pan and, using two forks, flake the meat off of the skin.  (Some people throw the skin away.  I pop it back into the non-stick skillet and fry till it is crispy, crispy, crispy.  Then I eat it.  Crunch, crunch, crunch.  Delicious.)

Put the mashed potato into a large mixing bowl and fluff it around with a fork.  Add the onion, cheese and salmon.   Add the egg and mix well.  

You can add pinches of salt and black pepper at this point but remember that your mashed potatoes were already seasoned, as was your salmon.   But do give the mixture a good sprinkle of cayenne pepper and mix again.

Sprinkle a plate with breadcrumbs.  Carefully shape a big spoonful of the mixture into a patty.   Put it in the breadcrumbs.  

Using a spatula, push breadcrumbs up the sides of the patty and then flip it gently over to coat the other side. 

Meanwhile, wipe out your non-stick skillet and add a little more olive oil.  Put it on a medium heat. 

Still using the spatula, slip the patty into the skillet.

Form the rest of your patties the same way and gently slip them into the skillet.  These are quite soft and may mash up a little when you try to turn them so cook on a medium to low heat until a good crust forms on the bottom.  Possibly 7-10 minutes. 

If your pan is too small to maneuver in easily, you can remove one patty before trying to turn the others, as I did.

Flip gently and cook until you have a crust on the other side.  You can serve these with a side vegetable or a salad.  Either would be delicious.  Enjoy!

(Despite the photos, this actually made six good-sized patties.  I ate the first two before I took the pictures.)

Enjoy!