Gourmet Grown-Up Sloppy Joes

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Goodbye Winter, hello Spring!  What better way to welcome the new season than to use some winter ingredients for a retro summertime dinner.  Gourmet Grown-Up Sloppy Joes!   Ina Garten makes a “Grown-Up Mac & Cheese” that I often think about when dreaming up ways of turning childhood favorites into delicious “adult” meals.  Here, I've replaced the hamburger and tomato sauce with a sophisticated palette of sweet Italian sausage, butternut squash, toasted almonds, and aromatic arugula.

Like I said, this dish conjures a good-time 1950s warm-weather evening (perhaps eaten just before catching a Brooklyn Dodgers game).  Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” makes me think of a balmy spring night.

--5 Italian pork sausage links, removed from cases (you can use sweet or spicy, but I prefer the former)

--2 c. arugula, wilted

--2 c. roasted butternut squash, cubed

--1/2 c. breadcrumbs (I make my own—here, I used honey wheat bread)

--3 large eggs

--1/2 cup toasted almonds, sliced (toast these by spreading them on a sheet of parchment paper and toasting in the oven for about 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees F)

--2/3 c. chopped, dried cranberries

--1/3 c. milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

--a few tablespoons apple butter)

--6 toasted Kaiser rolls

--a few tbsp. olive oil

In a large bowl, combine (but don’t over-mix!) the sausage, butternut squash, breadcrumbs, eggs, toasted almonds, cranberries, and milk.  Heat about 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large stove-top skillet.  Over medium heat, grill the sausage mixture until browned and cooked through.  On a stove-top grill pan, brush Kaiser rolls with olive oil and toast lightly. 

Place heaping spoonfuls of the sausage mixture onto toasted Kaiser rolls and top with apple butter and arugula.