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1 to 1½ pounds fresh Italian sausage

4 cups seedless grapes

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar or fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1. Put the sausages in a 10- or 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook the sausages, turning from time to time, until nicely browned, about 15 minutes. Prick each sausage in a few places with a thin-bladed knife and cook for 5 minutes more.

2. Transfer the sausages to a warm platter. If more than a tablespoon or two of fat remains in the pan, remove the excess. Add the grapes and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until some of the grapes collapse. Add the vinegar or lemon juice, stir, and turn off the heat. Serve the sausages nestled in the grapes and their juices.

VARIATION

Bangers and Mash, Italian Style

Boil 1½ to 2 pounds peeled potatoes in water to cover until soft; drain, reserving some of the cooking liquid. While the potatoes are hot, mash them with ½ teaspoon minced garlic, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, and enough of the reserved cooking liquid to make them smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, cook the sausages. In step 2, just before adding the grapes, add 1 cup white wine or chicken stock to the skillet. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring, until the liquid is reduced by about half. Stir in the grapes and proceed as directed. Serve with the mashed potatoes.

KALE, SAUSAGE, AND MUSHROOM STEW

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

TIME: 30 TO 40 MINUTES

BY BUILDING THIS stew one ingredient at a time—in a manner not unlike that of making soup—the process is streamlined and nearly everything is browned. This makes the flavors so much more complex that the stew needs no stock to finish it off. (Should you have some stock on hand, however, by all means use it.) To make this stew even tastier, use a mixture of mushrooms or add a few reconstituted dried porcini and use their soaking liquid to replace some of the water.

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 pound Italian sausage, sweet or hot, cut into 1-inch or smaller pieces

1 pound kale, leaves stripped from stems

½ pound mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

1 tablespoon roughly chopped garlic

1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, or to taste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups stock or water

1. Put the olive oil in a large, deep skillet or casserole over medium-high heat; a minute later, add the sausage and cook without stirring until the sausage browns well on one side, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the stems of the kale into about ½-inch lengths and shred the leaves.

2. Stir the sausage and let it brown a bit more. Remove it with a slotted spoon (don’t worry if it isn’t cooked through). Cook the mushrooms in the remaining fat with the heat still on medium-high, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

3. Add the kale stems and cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to brown, 3 or 4 minutes. Turn the heat to medium and add the garlic, hot pepper, kale leaves, salt, and pepper; stir and cook for about 1 minute. Return the sausage to the pan and add the stock or water. Raise the heat to high and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste and ladle into bowls, topping with the reserved mushrooms.

FORTY-MINUTE CASSOULET

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

TIME: 40 MINUTES

CASSOULET IN FORTY minutes or less is heresy, of course, but even “real” cassoulet was designed as a bean stew containing whatever meat, preferably fatty and flavorful, was available to throw in. That’s the spirit here, too.

Although the pork tenderloin need not be browned before further cooking, the sausage benefits from a quick browning, definitely worth the five-minute effort. If you can get duck confit, just brown it lightly on both sides, adding both it and its fat to the stew in place of the duck breast.

4 cups chopped tomato with the juice (canned is fine)

1 tablespoon chopped garlic