Sweet Pork Sausage with Grapes

Serves 4

Pork sausage and seedless grapes provide a great play on flavor in this impressive-looking dish perfect for company. Use sweet or hot sausage; both are good with sugary grapes.

1 pound homemade or store-bought Italian sausage
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
½ cup thinly sliced fennel, white bulb only
Olive oil, as needed
2 cups mixed seedless red and green grapes, cut in half
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Poke the sausages here and there with a fork, and put them in a sauté pan with ½ cup of water. Cook the sausages uncovered over medium heat until they turn gray. Drain off the water.

2. Add the onion and fennel, and allow the sausages to brown in their own fat, turning them once or twice. If they are very lean, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan.  Five minutes before the sausage is cooked, add the grapes to the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes longer.

3. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and then transfer to a serving dish. Serve very hot.