Artichokes with Sausage and Lemon

There's no denying my love of the following things: artichokes, sausage, and Tyler Florence. Unfortunately, I had a mediocre experience with all three the other night. 

I've had my eye on this recipe for Artichokes with Pork Sausage, Lemon and Sage for awhile now and I figured now would be the time to test it out since artichokes are in season! I made a couple minor modifications that I didn't think would make much of a difference and I just wasn't that impressed by the final product. Don't get me wrong - it wasn't horrible...it just wasn't as good as I had thought it would be. I ate dinner and all I could think was meh...all that work for this?

Seriously, the only recipes I follow all the way through are in all of Tyler Florence's cookbooks. He has never steered me wrong and the photos/descriptions are always pretty close to the real thing. That is why I was so shocked. Sadface.

Here are the modifications I made. Maybe I'll give this another go with no modifications. Agh. Still can't get over how blah this meal was.

My modifications:

Sausage - I used two turkey brats because I couldn't find a plain pork sausage and I was in a turkey sausage mood. I know pork is pork and it always lends more flavor to a dish than turkey, but I don't know how much saving the pork sausage would have done to the dish. Maybe a spicy pork sausage?

Onion - I didn't have a shallot on hand and I didn't have anything milder than an onion. I minced it up super tiny.

Potato - I had a handful of fingerlings leftover so I thought I'd throw them into the dish. They were pretty small so I figured they would cook fairly fast.

Bake - So the original recipe doesn't call for baking, but I wanted the tots to cook and soak up the flavor.  I browned the sausage instead of cooking it all the way through and placed it in the dish with all the ingredients. Baked it covered for 15-20 minutes and dinner was done.

March ingredients used: artichokes, herbs, lemons, onions, potatoes

This was also my first time cooking with whole artichokes. What an experience. It's a whole lot of effort and dinero for a whole lot of nothing. I have a new appreciation for prepared artichokes. 

I learned how to prepare them by watching a bunch of videos online and stuck with the original recipe for steaming. Exciting.

As those steamed, I enjoyed a glass of the wine I used to steam them.

O hello sauvignon blanc, long time no sip!

Stephen Vincent 2009 Sauvignon Blanc

Fantastic! Crisp, not too acidic and slightly fruity. I thought I tasted a hint of nectarine, but whenever I say that the tasting notes always say melon. Apparently my tastebuds confuse melon with nectarines. I picked this bottle up at Whole Foods mostly because it was the most reasonably priced bottle. What a pleasant surprise. At $12.99, this is definitely going on my list of bargain bottles!