Sausage Caprese Bites

Perfect Pairing:  Marinated mini bocconcini

I am a big fan of pre cooked chicken sausage.  I use them all the time. 

Sometimes just as a quick appetizer.

Or as the protein in a healthy soup.

They come in a ton of flavors like apple and cheddar, cognac and cranberry, or you can keep it simple with spicy or Italian flavored.  They are all pretty healthy.  I like to get the natural varieties.  I am using them here in a quick appetizer.  Even though they are fully cooked I sauté them a bit to give them some caramelization.  Spell-check is telling me that caramelization is not a word.  I do not agree with this.

I drizzled some pesto on top, but you could certainly skip that step.  You could also add a little basil leaf to the skewer.  I used marinated mini bocconcini which were perfect in this recipe.  No need to slice up fresh mozzarella, and they just look really cute.  They are marinated in a seasoned olive oil.  I removed some of the oil by resting them on paper towels before threading them on the toothpicks.

Sausage Caprese Bites

Lindsay at Perfecting the Pairing

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

·        2 tsp olive oil

·        4 to 6 fully cooked chicken sausage links, sliced (20-30 slices)

·        1 pint grape tomatoes (20-30)

·        Marinated mini bocconcini (20-30)

·        4 to 6 sun dried tomatoes, cut into small pieces (20-30)

·        ¼ cup pesto

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the chicken sausage and sauté until caramelized.  Remove from heat.  Using toothpicks thread on a grape tomato, bocconcini, sun dried tomato, and chicken sausage.  Place on a platter and drizzle with pesto.

Tweet