Merquez Sausage Sandwich

A few years ago I discovered D'Artagnan's sausages.  I have tried several of the different varieties, including the wild boar sausage, the Andouille sausage, and the lamb merguez sausage.  Thus far, the merguez has been my favorite.  It's nicely spicy and incredibly flavorful.  Generally I cook the sausages in skillet and then serve them with a couscous I like to make with a combination of sauteed yellow onions, currants, toasted pine nuts, and flat-leaf parsley.  The sweetness of the currants pairs with the spicy sausages, and the couscous soaks up all of the wonderful sausage juices.  But last night I wasn't feeling the couscous (which is good because when I looked in the cabinet I discovered we were out of currants).  Instead I took some inspiration from B.Cafe and whipped up a mergeuz sausage sandwich on nice crusty bread, which we topped with sauteed red onions and garlic scapes, plus a nice fried egg (I love fresh organic eggs - they have such wonderfully rich, orange yolks).  I served my sandwich open-faced because for once I didn't want all of the bread, but Alex wanted an actual sandwich so that's what he got.  

This sausage sandwich is seriously yummy.  The egg yolk give the whole dish some extra richness, and provides it with something of a sauce.  The sauteed onions and garlic scapes provide a bit of freshness and another layer of flavor.   Then there's that delicious sausage.  But this certainly isn't a light meal - you need to serve it with a nice arugula salad to cut the heavy, rich flavors.  We were out of arugula so I served it with a big bowl of nice cherries from our CSA, and that also helped to balance out the richness of it all.

Recipe after the jump!

Merguez Sausage Sandwich

INGREDIENTS:

evoo 

10 oz. D'Artagnan lamb merguez sausages (6 small sausages)

1/2 cup red onion, very thinly sliced

3 garlic scapes, finely chopped

2 eggs

4 thick slices of nice crusty bread, brushed with evoo and toasted (or only 2 slices if you want open-faced sandwiches)

Heat a medium saute pan over medium heat.  Add 1 tbsp evoo.  Prick sausages lightly with a fork to allow some of the juices to escape (otherwise you run the risk of biting into a strangely bulbous lamb sausage and having lots of really hot sausage juice burn your tongue).  Add sausages.  Cook sausages until outsides are evenly browned and nicely crisped, about 7-8 minutes.  After the sausages have cooked 5 minutes, add the onion and garlic scapes, stirring occasionally.  Remove sausages and vegetables from the pan.

Heat a separate saute pan over medium heat.  Add enough evoo to coat the bottom of the pan.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Cook the eggs until the bottoms are nicely golden brown around the edges, the whites are just set, and the yolks are still runny, about 2 minutes.

Build sandwiches by placing merguez sausages on toasted bread, then topping them with sauteed onions, garlic scapes, and a fried egg.  Top the egg with s&p.  

Serve immediately.