Banjo Cooks Breakfast with Goolsby's Sausage

Goolsby's Sausage, Stone-ground Cheese Grits, Eggs, Sausage and Cheese Stuffed Puff Pastry (like Hot Pockets).....OMG!

Note: for my Sausage Patty Melt using Goolsby's Sausgae, go here

This is a great breakfast!  It's big enough that it's breakfast and lunch!

Total Time: 45 minutes - 1 hour.

This recipe uses Goolsby's Sausage (frozen), which we obtain from Costco.  We used to cook with Jimmy Dean sausage, but after 36 years of happy marriage, we've switched to Goolsby's!

We particularly like this sausage because:

• It taste great!
• It's already formed into patties.
• It doesn't need to be thawed before cooking
• It's inexpensive - we are able to purchase 24 preformed patties (2 lb) for $7.00 at Costco.
• We can just take out the number of patties we want to cook for that meal and return the rest to the freezer.

This recipe is assuming you will be cooking for two servings.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb (8 oz) Extra Sharp Cheese
• 2 eggs (or more if you desire)
• 1 sheet of Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets
• 4 servings of stone-ground grits (see instructions that come with your grits)
• 4 sausage patties (the times here are assuming you will be using Goolby's frozen sausage patties - if you use different, then you'll need to make some adjustments for your sausage cooking time.  Goolsby's takes 8 minutes to prepare).

Cooking instructions

1. Note time now; you will base some steps as elapsed time from now.
2. Start cooking stone-ground grits.  They will require about 45 minutes to cook.  Follow instructions that come with your stone-ground grits.  Make enough for 4 servings and some will be left over....they get better tomorrow!
3. Remove puff pastry frozen sheets (1 sheet per 2 pastries) and place where it can thaw.  It will require about 40 minutes to thaw.
4. Grate 1 lb of  Extra Sharp Cheese.  Set aside 1 cup for cheese grits.  The rest will be used in the stuffed puff pastry.
5. About 30 minutes after start: Set oven to 400 dF and turn on.  Place a rack towards the top, maybe 3/4 up from bottom. Not critical, but placing it towards the top will help with not burning the bottom of the puff pastries.  Continue with rest of steps while oven comes up to temperature.
6. About 30 minutes from start, heat pan to point where drops of water will rapidly sizzle.  If you have an electric skillet, place it for 375 and allow to come up to temperature.
7. Place 2 of 4 sausage patties into skillet and cook, 4 minutes per side (for Goolsby's).  After 4 minutes on a side, flip to other side.  Total cooking time is 8 minutes.
8. When pastry sheets have thawed, open up and cut in half width and cut in half length.  This will give you 4 equal size pieces.
9. Place a large helping of shredded cheese onto 2 of the squares.  Heap it up.
10. When sausage has finished cooking, place each sausage onto the cheese on a pastry square.
11. Add lots of cheese to the top of the sausage.
12. Place remaining 2 pastry squares onto tops of cheese-sausage squares.
13. Crimp the edges together on each puff pastry.  
14. Place into greased cookie tin and place into 400 degF oven.  Cook for 15 minutes.  Watch last 5 minutes to ensure you don't burn, as all ovens cook at different speeds due to differences in temperature controls.
15. Stir cheese into grits, and recover.
16. Take remaining 2 sausage patties and cook in skillet, with 4 minutes on the first side, then flip.
17. Different step for cooking on the 2nd side of the sausage.  After flipping, cook 2nd side for 2 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 or moderate.  Sausage should still gradually sizzle now, but not a 'hot' sizzle.
18. Open 2 eggs into skillet onto sausage oil.  
19. Cover and let eggs and sausage cook until your desired level of cooking is achieved.  Using the cover will help the eggs to cook on top without burning the bottoms.
20. When the puff pastries are ready, everything should be ready.
21. Plat and serve!

We like to serve with: 

• Chipotle Tabasco 
• Orange juice
• Strong, black coffee.