Italian "Sausage" Sandwiches with Spicy Grilled Peppers and Fennel-Onion Mustard

Homemade Mustard

• 1 large onion
• 1 fennel bulb
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 2-3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel pollen or freshly ground fennel seed
• Salt to taste

1. Roughly chop onion. Remove fennel stalks and fronds. Core fennel and roughly chop fennel bulb. Finely chop garlic cloves. Grind mustard seeds. You can use a spice grinder or I simply put seeds in a ziploc bag and use a mallet to crush them.
2. Heat large saute pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil. When oil is warm, add fennel and onion to pan. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables have softened and edges have just started to brown. Add minced garlic to pan. After a minute or so, when garlic starts to release its aroma, adjust burner heat to low and add vinegar to pan. Mixture will sizzle for a minute. Continue to cook until there is only a tablespoon or two of liquid left in the pan and vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and let vegetables cool for about 15 minutes.
3. Add vegetable mixture and any remaining liquid to blender bowl. Add crushed mustard seeds, thyme, 2 tablespoons water, Dijon mustard, and fennel pollen to blender. Put cover on bowl and begin to blend mixture. With motor running, drizzle in remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add additional water a tablespoon at a time if mixture is too thick and isn't pureeing easily. Depending on how powerful your blender motor is, you may want to puree mixture in batches. I found that it worked well for my blender to divide the mixture into two batches. Continue blending until mixture resembles a smooth puree.
4. Taste mustard, and add salt 1/2 teaspoon at a time until flavor is balanced. If mustard does not taste sufficiently mustardy, add additional cider vinegar a teaspoon at a time until flavor tastes right.
5. Remove mustard from blender and put in serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate while you cook peppers and sandwiches. Mustard will keep iin fridge for several weeks.

"Sausage" and Pepper Sandwiches

• 2 shallots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon rosemary, finely chopped
• 3 teaspoons sage, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 ounce pancetta
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons fennel pollen or freshly ground fennel seed
• 3 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon grapeseed oil
• 1 pound pork (not too lean and preferably sourced from a butcher)
• 6 hamburger buns, preferably whole-grain
• 6 Italian frying peppers (sometimes called Cubanelle peppers) or other slightly spicy peppers
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1. Chop shallots, garlic and pancetta as finely as you can. In large mixing bowl, add first eight ingredients (shallots through thyme) and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add 1 teaspoon salt and pork to bowl and with your fingers gently separate pork strands. With your hands gently mix ingredients together until pork is coated with seasonings.
2. Form a tablespoon-size ball of meat with your fingers. Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add grapeseed oil to pan. When oil is hot, flatten ball slightly and add to pan. Cook meat for about 1 1/2 minutes per side or until meat has developed a golden crust. Remove mini-patty from pan and let rest for a minute or two. Taste it to judge if seasonings should be adjusted. Add a little more salt to meat in mixing bowl if needed. If mini-patty doesn't taste spicy enough, add a little more crushed red pepper flakes to bowl. If herbal flavors aren't coming through very strongly, add more rosemary, sage and thyme to meat in bowl.
3. Divide meat in bowl into six portions. Form each portion into a large ball. Place on cookie sheet or large plate and refrigerate.
4. Fire up the grill. If you have a charcoal grill, light the coals. If you have a gas grill, as I do, light the grill and turn up the heat to medium high. If you have some, put some mesquite wood chips in your smoker box. While grill is heating, remove stems from peppers, slice peppers in half and remove seeds. Brush outside of pepper halves with 1 tablespoon or so of olive oil.
5. When grill is hot (about 500 degrees), oil the grill's cooking rack. Add peppers to the rack and cover the grill. Grill peppers for about 3-4 minutes per side until the peppers have some nice charring. It is not necessary for peppers to be totally blackened. Remove and put peppers in bowl to continue steaming. Cover with tea towel.
6. Remove pork balls from fridge. Slightly flatten each one with your hand or a spatula until it resembles a thick hamburger patty. Grill each patty for about 4-5 minutes per side until outside of patties are nice and golden and inside of patties are cooked to a light pink. I usually cut one patty and take a peek inside to see if it is done. Do not overcook. Pork too well done gets tough very quickly! Remove patties from heat and let rest for about five minutes.
7. While "sausage" is resting, brush insides of each bun with remaining tablespoon or so of olive oil. Grill buns on warming rack until they are a lovely golden brown. Remove peppers from bowl and put on platter. Remove skin and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.
8. Put a bun on each diner's plate. Spread some fennel-onion mustard (recipe above) on the insides of the buns. Top with "sausage" patty and one or two slices of grilled peppers. Serve with an ice cold beer or a glass of lemonade. Enjoy, and dine al fresco, if you can!