By Marcus Weiner
This recipe serves 4.
This venison Italian sausage recipe makes a hearty soup that is perfect to warm up during wintery days or cool fall evenings. Using game meat, like venison, to make sausage is a great way to bring variety to your game cooking and use up all cuts of meat. The blend of spices you choose will set the tone for your sausage and for this recipe, we are combining venison with Backwoods Sweet Italian Fresh Sausage Seasoning to bring salty-sweetness, black pepper and fennel to the sausage.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound venison Italian sausage
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 c celery, chopped
- 1 c carrot, chopped
- 1 c broccoli florets, small
- 1⁄4 c fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 32 oz beef broth
- 16 oz water
- 2 c pasta, cooked (I use gemelli)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1⁄2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp canola oil
To make sausage:
- Grind venison/pork shoulder at a 70:30 ratio. This is my base for any sausage, so I make about 25 pounds at a time and wrap in 1-pound packages. I used to grind at a 80:20 ratio but felt like the sausage needed some more fat, so increased the pork content.
- Combine 2 tsp Backwoods Sweet Italian Fresh Sausage Seasoning and 2 ounces of water, then add to 1 pound of ground meat. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate overnight.
Directions:
- In a 6-quart Dutch oven or equivalent soup pot of your choice, over medium-high heat, brown 1-pound Italian sausage in 1-tbsp canola oil until cooked, about 6 minutes. Remove the sausage.
- Turn heat down to medium and add onion, carrot, celery and garlic; sauté for 5 minutes. Add beef broth, water, parsley, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; reduce to simmer and cook for 25 minutes.
- Add sausage and broccoli and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Add pasta and simmer for 3 minutes.
- To serve, split into 4 bowls and accompany them with biscuits or crusty bread of your choice.
If you enjoyed this venison Italian sausage recipe, be sure to check out our other recipes.