I was sitting around watching the snow fall around the valley this weekend and decided I would spend some time in the kitchen coming up with a new idea for dinner. I should be outside grilling steaks and burgers, and all other manners of goodness, but someone has forgotten to tell Old Man Winter it’s springtime here in Idaho so he keeps tossing snow balls at us. I guess that I should not complain — we will need all the water we can get later in the summer, but I am ready for some camping and cooking over the open fire. I don’t know what made me think about one of my childhood favorite meals, but the more I thought about my Mom’s pigs in a blanket the more I wanted to see if I could make my own. Today was a good day to try it out.
Mom’s pigs in a blanket were the normal hot dogs wrapped in biscuit dough and baked in the oven. We would get these for lunch in school frequently as well. I have made pigs in a blanket many times, but they just do not live up to the memories I have of them as a child. I guess the hot dogs today are just not as good as they were 30 years ago. Holy Moly, that makes me sound old. Grandchild #3 better get here this week — I need another little one around to make me feel like a kid again.
For my sausage in a sleeper I decided to deep fry them instead of bake them. I looked through the manual for my bread machine and settled on a dinner roll recipe in the dough section for the sleeper of my dinner. I added the ingredients to the bread pan and started the bread machine to make the dough. You can use the frozen biscuit or bread dough you buy in the store or you can make the dough by hand instead of the bread machine if you prefer. I like to make my own dough with the bread machine because it is easy and I know exactly what is in my dough.
For the sausages I used some inexpensive smoked sausages that you can get at the grocery in the large family pack. I like to keep some of these on hand because they are a fast meal when you are in a hurry. I have not figured out a good recipe for making my own sausage yet so I have to buy them. I will get it figured out eventually and when I do I will write about it here.
Sausage in a Sleeper
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Ingredients:
Directions
After the dough is ready, divide it into 5 equal portions. Roll out each portion into a rectangle large enough to wrap completely around the sausage.
Add the shredded cheese and sausage to the dough and wrap the dough tightly around the sausage. Repeat for all five sausages.
If you have a deep fryer, while you are rolling out the dough and preparing the sausages for frying heat the fryer to 400 degrees. If you don’t have a deep fryer add the vegetable oil to a large pot and place on the stove over medium high heat and use a thermometer to get the oil to 400 degrees.
Once the sausages are wrapped and ready to go and the oil is to temp, carefully place the sausages into the hot oil. I discovered with mine that the sausages were too long to fit correctly in the fryer so I just cut them in half and made sure I closed the dough completely over the end. Fry the sausages until the desired golden brown. Use a heat resistant spatula or tongs to turn the sausage over to cook evenly. It will take about 5 minutes to cook them completely. Carefully remove from the oil and let drain on paper towels for 5 minutes before serving.
If you don’t want to make 5 sausages you can make fried bread sticks with the extra dough. I like to roll the extra dough out flat and fill it with shredded cheese or some onion any vegetable would do and roll them up and fry them the same way. Sprinkle on some Kosher salt when they are done and you get a nice pretzel flavor from the bread sticks.
Clacked by Jeff Love
on May 24, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
Another good variation on this same recipe, without the frying, is to wrap in loose foil, allow to rise inside the foil, then cook on the grill. Turn every 5 minutes or so, until the outside of the dough “taps” through the foil. Probably about 30 minutes on low… also works great around the campfire.