A little while ago I posted my new favourite breakfast sandwich. Part of what makes the breakfast grilled cheese so good is the sausage I used which was a sample sent to me from Mulay’s Sausage out of Colorado. For the Freekeh Sausage Bowls I used Mulay’s bratwurst sausage.
Bowl Culture
When I go out to eat, I love to get a bowl of food whether it is a Vietnamese bahn mi bowl, a Hawaiian poké bowl, a new age vegan bowl, an oat bowl or some other grain bowl for breakfast. What I love about a good bowl of food is having all the different flavours to mix and match. At a really good restaurant or “bowl” fast casual spot, there should always be some amazing sauces to add to the bowls which give you even more flavour choices.
I never make bowls (unless you count salads) at home though and that’s just silly. So, I decided it was time to change that. I am going to start making bowl meals more often. For this freekeh sausage bowl recipe, I decided to use an ingredient I have been wanting to try: freekeh. It turns out freekeh is one of those very easy grains to cook. I found some basic instructions for preparing the grain and I put together this Freekeh Sausage Bowl with bratwurst. Because the sausage has so much flavour, you don’t really need an additional sauce. If you do make a bowl with tofu or chicken, or vegetables only, you may want to find some tasty sauces to pour over the bowl to bring it all together.
The Recipe
This freekeh bowl is full of flavour from the garlic and lemon zest paste and the bratwurst sausage.
Ingredients
- 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 heads of baby bok choy
- 1 bunch of asparagus
- 3/4 cup of freekeh
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 cup of vegetable stock
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 tsp of coarse or Kosher salt
- 1/2 lemon zested
- 3 fresh or roasted tomatoes (use roasted when tomatoes are out of season)
- ground black pepper
- 1 package of bratwurst sausage
Instructions
- Begin by soaking the freekeh in cold water for five minutes. You can thinly slice the onion while it soaks. Then, rinse the freekeh thoroughly in a sieve with cold running water.
- Heat 1 TBSP of the oil in a medium saucepan large enough to hold he freekeh when it expands, a cup of chicken stock and the onions. Then add in the sliced red onion and cook for about 20 minutes until soft and golden. Season the onions with pepper.
- Add the rinsed freekeh to the onions. Add 1 cup of vegetable stock. Bring the stock to a boil then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, remove the pan from the heat but do not remove the lid. Let the freekeh sit with the lid on for another 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes covered, remove the lid and let the freekeh sit for five more minutes uncovered.
- Slice the bratwurst into thick 3/4 inch pieces. In a frying pan, add the sausage slices and cook until golden brown on both sides over medium high heat.
- Slice the bok choy down the middle, cut off the bottom, and wash throughly. Shake the leaves slightly dry and then place on a grill or grill pan for 6 minutes, turning 1/2 way through. Remove and drizzle with olive oil. Add some pepper.
- Wash the asparagus in cold water and break the asparagus at the bottom of the stem. It should naturally break near the woody part that can be composted. Drizzle the washed asparagus with olive oil. Cook the asparagus on the grill or grill pan until tender but still slightly crisp. It will continue cooking a bit after it comes off the grill.
- Stir up the freekeh with a fork and then pour it into a large serving platter.
- In a mortar and pestle, food processor, or blender add the 2 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp of coarse salt and the lemon zest. Mash into a paste. Stir 1/2 the paste into the freekeh and save the rest for people to add to their bowls to taste.
- Pour the cooked bratwurst slices from the pan on top of the freekeh with the juices from the pan. Slice the bok choy into bite sized pieces and add that to the freekeh. Then top with slices of the tomatoes. If using roasted tomatoes you can just put tomato halves on the platter of freekeh uncut.
- Bring the platter out and let everyone serve themselves. You can bring out extra lemon garlic paste to add to the bowls, sriracha, hot sauce, or olive oil to drizzle over each individual bowl.
Notes
I used Mulay's Bratwurst Sausage for this recipe.
I like to add the oil after the bok choy cooks. The boy choy is wet enough that it steams and chars without additional oil and then the oil can be added after for flavour.
Bok Choy Love
I like to cut the stem off of my bok choy at the bottom because then it is easier to thoroughly clean in between the leaves. When you slice the sausage links into 3/4 inch pieces use a sharp knife. Our knives are fairly dull so I found a serrated knife worked best. You don’t want the sausage slices to fall apart. I slice the sausages before cooking because it speeds of the cooking process and I know I can get them cooked through on a busy weeknight.
Quick and Easy Cooking
I use the grill for vegetables all summer long. I grill a lot in the summer when I want to keep the heat from cooking outside the kitchen. These bok choy leaves are slightly wet from being washed and are just sprinkled lightly with salt. I add oil after cooking as a finishing element. They don’t really need any oil on the grill.
