Italian Sausage Pot Pie

Italian sausage pot pie is a pot pie that starts from raw meat and still fits a weeknight. Squeeze the sausage out of its casings and brown it in an oven-safe skillet, soften fennel, onion, red pepper and diced potatoes in the fat it leaves behind, then stir in flour, stock and milk for a creamy gravy. Cover the skillet with puff pastry and bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles.

The sausage brings its own seasoning, so the rest of the filling needs very little: a pinch of oregano, a handful of Parmesan, and salt only after tasting. Everything happens in one pan, which then goes straight into the oven.

At a glance: serves 4 to 6. Prep 20 minutes, cook about 1 hour, cool and rest 25 minutes.

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Pasture-Raised Italian Sausage Links

This recipe uses 1 pack of Italian sausage links, 1 to 1 1/4 pounds, which fills one skillet pie.

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Want beef in the freezer too? See the 1/8 beef share subscription.

When he was asked what he says again and again on the farm, Gray Shipley, who runs it, answered:

“Leave people better off than we found them.”

Gray Shipley

He was talking about the way the farm deals with people, not about pot pie. We think a pot pie is a small, practical version of the idea all the same. It is the dish people carry to a neighbor after a new baby or a hard week, because it arrives whole, feeds a family and reheats in one dish.

Ingredients

• 1 pack Italian sausage links, 1 to 1 1/4 pounds, mild or hot
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 small fennel bulb, cored and diced, or a second onion
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 12 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 3/4 cup whole milk or half-and-half
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 cups baby spinach (optional)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, about 9 ounces, thawed in the refrigerator
• 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Slit the sausage casings with a sharp knife, squeeze out the meat, and throw the casings away.
2. Heat the oil in a deep 10-inch oven-safe skillet, cast iron if you have one, over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it into bite-size pieces, until browned and cooked through, 7 to 9 minutes; a thermometer in a thick piece should read 160 degrees F. Lift it onto a plate with a slotted spoon, leaving about 1 tablespoon of fat in the pan.
3. Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion, fennel, pepper and potatoes and cook, stirring often, until the onion is soft and the potatoes are turning translucent at the edges, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.
4. Add the butter and let it melt, then sprinkle over the flour and stir for 1 to 2 minutes, until no dry flour shows.
5. Slowly stir in the stock, then the milk and oregano. Simmer, stirring often, until the gravy is thick and creamy and the potatoes are tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Stir in the sausage, Parmesan and spinach, if using, until the spinach wilts. Taste before adding any salt, since the sausage and cheese are salty, and add pepper. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for 15 minutes.
7. Roll the pastry on a lightly floured counter to an 11-inch square and drape it over the skillet. Trim the corners to leave a 1/2-inch overhang, press it against the rim, brush with the egg wash and cut four slits in the center.
8. Set the skillet on a rimmed sheet pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and deep golden, the gravy bubbles through the slits, and the center reads 165 degrees F. Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Add 1 pack of Italian sausage links to cart

Why take the sausage out of its casing

Whole links in a pot pie are awkward to serve and chewy to cut with a spoon. Out of the casing, the sausage breaks into bite-size pieces that brown on every side and spread through the filling, so every spoonful gets some. Browning matters here: the deep color on the meat and the browned bits it leaves in the pan are most of the flavor in the gravy. Do not crowd it or stir it constantly. Let it sit for a minute between stirs so it can brown.

Fennel or onion?

Fennel and Italian sausage are an old pairing, since many Italian sausages are seasoned with fennel seed. Diced and cooked, the bulb turns soft and sweet with only a faint anise taste. If you do not like it, or cannot find it, use a second onion, or a couple of celery ribs for some bite. Mushrooms are another good addition: cook 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms with the vegetables.

A creamy gravy that holds

The flour and butter thicken the stock and milk into a gravy that should coat a spoon before the pastry goes on. It thickens a little more in the oven and again as the pie rests. If it is thin after simmering, let it bubble for a few more minutes, or stir in 1 tablespoon of flour mixed with 2 tablespoons of cold milk. The guide below on why gravy turns out thin covers the usual causes. For a lighter sauce, use all stock and leave out the milk; for a richer one, use half-and-half.

Puff pastry or pie crust?

Puff pastry rises high and shatters under a spoon. A refrigerated pie crust is sturdier and slices more neatly; lay it over the skillet, crimp the edge and bake the same way. Whichever you use, let the filling cool before the pastry goes on, and bake on a sheet pan to catch any drips.

Make ahead and leftovers

Make the filling up to a day ahead, cool it, and refrigerate it in a 9-by-9-inch baking dish. Top it with pastry when you are ready and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, tenting with foil if the crust browns before the center reaches 165 degrees F. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours, and reheat portions covered in a 350-degree oven, or in the microwave, until they reach 165 degrees F.

Food safety

USDA FSIS lists 160 degrees F as the safe minimum internal temperature for ground meats, and fresh Italian sausage is ground meat, so cook the crumbles through before they go into the gravy. Casseroles and leftovers should reach 165 degrees F; check the center of the pie through a steam vent with an instant-read thermometer. Wash your hands, knife and board after handling the raw sausage. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.