Ah comfort food! We seem to be having a pretty mild winter here in Seattle – so far no snow other than in the mountains; not too bad on the rainfall (although Seattle Weather blog shows stats that February was wetter than normal – me I just don’t believe it!) Even the wind has been pretty cooperative except for an occasional day here and there that was a little more than “gusty winds”. But as everyone observes every morning on the national news, the majority of the rest of the country is facing some pretty severe weather and it doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. Several of my friends and readers on the East Coast have written asking for a good “comfort food” recipe – one that they might even have the goods stocked already in their pantry and refrigerator. And this recipe does just that. To all my friends on the East Coast who are bundled up, sitting around the fireplace as the furnace has gone out, shoveling snow each morning and night, or have just plain run out of “hot and hearty” dishes to prepare, this one is for you! Stay warm my friends!
Scalloped Potatoes with Link Sausage
Ingredients:
4 large russet potatoes
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
1 Tbl Kosher salt
2 Tbl dried parsley
2 cups white cream sauce
14 pork sausage links
Dash of Paprika
Preparation:
1. Peel and slice potatoes (use a mandolin if you have it, for even thickness of slices) and drop the slices into a bowl of cold water for about 15 minutes. Lightly rinse the slices and spread them out on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Place 2 or 3 paper towels on top and lightly pat dry the slices.
1st layer of potatoes with cream sauce
2nd layer of potatoes
3rd layer – ready for oven
2. Butter a 2 or 3 quart casserole dish and add your first layer of potato slices on the bottom. Pour 1/3 of the cream sauce on top, sprinkle some salt, parsley, and 1/3 of the diced onion. Then add a 2nd layer of potato slices, sauce and salt/parsley/onion. Lastly add the 3rd layer of potatoes on top of that and again pour cream sauce and salt/parsley/onion. Do a light sprinkle of paprika across the top layer.
Potatoes baked for 30 minutes and sausage has been added.
3. Place the scalloped potatoes in a 400 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then remove pan from oven and lay the 14 links on top of potatoes and back into the oven for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven, turn over the sausage links, raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees and finish cooking for another 20 minutes. Scalloped potatoes will be golden and crusty on the edges and the link sausage will be nicely browned. Not too much effort needed for this recipe, just patience as it cooks in the oven.
Golden potatoes fresh from the oven!
canapesandchocolate.com 
Autumn touch in the air here now so I shall certainly try this recipe soon. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Judith! I just went over to your blog as I hadn’t been there in a while and found your most recent posts very interesting, particularly the one titled “Tea Drinkers Unite” – I thought of my own mother when I read it, who passed about 8 years ago. And your Winnie the Pooh quote in early February so was so good, I decided to use for my March inspiration!
Sounds fabulous. I’ll definitely try this receipt, but I think I’ll use Aidells all natural chicken and apples sausage instead of the links.
Hey Joy! Growing up we traditionally used the pork sausage links, but I have to say I have used Turkey Sausage quite a bit the last few years and find them just as flavorful as the pork sausage, so your chicken and apples sausage sounds tasty to me! Thanks for stopping by!
I’ll have to try this. I don’t usually have luck with scalloped potatoes when the potatoes weren’t pre-cooked to some extent. You bake them for a long time so they should be cooked through. Then again maybe I didn’t use russets!
I do cook these for a long time, so they are perfect in “doneness” and not mushy – as I want them to still hold their shape. Russet potatoes have a high starch content (one of the reasons I float them in water for a bit), and I think that helps with the cooking process. Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you try and have success!