Vegan Italian Sausages

One of my favorite easy meals to make is sausages with grilled onions and red peppers. However, since I try my best to eat as little sodium as I can, store bought sausages just wont work for me. I have tried seitan based sausages, and they weren't that bad really, but not what I remember from a 'real' sausage. Then I happened across a video on YouTube from Sauce Stache. If you don't watch this guy, you really need to! He is part vegan cook and part scientist. I have made a few of his recipes and without a doubt my favorite is for his Plant Based Sausages.

Vegan Italian Sausages

Servings: 4 Recipe from: Sauce Stache What you will need:

• 1 cup textured vegetable protein

• 1 tbsp pea protein

• 1 cup distilled water, cold

• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast

• 1 tsp salt (* I personally do not add the salt)

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 1 tsp dried parsley

• 1 tsp dried basil

• 1/2 tsp dried basil

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

• 1/2 tsp fennel

• 1 tsp brown sugar

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1/8 tsp dried oregano

• 1/8 tsp dried thyme

• 1 tbsp coconut oil

• 1 tbsp canola oil

• 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce

• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke

• 3 grams methylcellulose

• 1 gram konjak flour

• 500ml distilled water

• 5 tsp sodium alginate

• 100g distilled water

• 1 tsp calcium chloride

How to Make Them:

1. Mix the sodium alginate in 500ml of water using a blender. This will be full of air bubbles and really thick! You will want to pour this into a container that is a little taller than the length of your sausages and put it in the fridge overnight to allow it to settle and release the air bubbles.

2. Combined the cold water, textured vegetable protein and pea protein in a bowl big enough to hold it. Mix well. Then toss it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

3. When the 30 minutes is up, put that mixture into a stand mixer and add everything on the list above from nutritional yeast to liquid smoke and mix well on a low speed. I like to use the paddle attachment. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

4. Add the methylcellulose and konjack flour and mix on medium speed for at least 10 minutes. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. Divide the mixture evenly and take those portions and wrap in plastic wrap to form into a sausage. Take the sausages and put them in the freezer for at least an hour to firm up. I like them to be almost frozen solid.

6. Mix the calcium chloride and 100g of distilled water together. You can do this in a spray bottle, or I do it in another container like what I have the sodium alginate in.

7. The best way to do this is to take a long skewer and from the end of the sausage, put the skewer into the middle of the sausage until you can safely hold just the skewer. Dip the sausage into the sodium alginate mixture and let the excess drip off. If there is too much you can run your finger down the sides of the sausage, carefully, as you want to make sure you are still leaving a good coating to form the "skin" of the sausage.

8. Dip the sausage into the calcium chloride mixture for about 30 seconds to let the "skin" harden. Then you will want to dip that into another container filled with clean water to clean off any excess calcium.

9. Repeat until you have completed your batch.

Serving Suggestions: I love to grill mine and then top them with grilled onions and red peppers. The sky is the limit really. Storing leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer: These are easy to store in the fridge, just put them in a zip lock bag and away you go. They can be frozen as well, if you prefer. I would suggest laying them out on a cookie sheet so they are not touching one another and freezing them. When frozen, you can vacuum pack them and they will stay good for several months after that.