Maple Sausage Patties

Back to school week. I have been doing back-to-school prep under a different weight this year, with the absence of Babcia Rose as a kind of atmospheric pressure I am learning to work inside. She is in the kitchen drawer, in the notebook. She is in the golabki I made last Sunday from the notebook, which were close — closer than last time, closer than the time before. I am getting closer.

My classroom is ready. New class: twenty students, one of them a transferring student from a school across town, two of them with existing IEPs that I have spent the last week absorbing. I have read every file. I have written a welcome letter. I have arranged the room so that the student who needs movement breaks can get to the door quickly and the student who needs proximity to my desk can have it. This is my preparation. This is love in the form of logistics.

The twins are eighteen months old and they are, in the technical sense, toddlers in full, which means they run more than walk, they have opinions about everything, they require consistent boundaries and patient explanations of the world, and they occasionally have feelings that are larger than their bodies and need to be held through. Owen holds his feelings quietly and processes them over time. Nora has her feelings out loud and is finished with them quickly. I am learning to parent both.

Freezer prep for September: done. Slow cooker chicken base, three casseroles, two soups, a batch of turkey meatballs. The freezer is stocked. September can come. I am ready. I am also tired and a little sad most days, and ready anyway. These things can be true simultaneously. I am learning this.

The freezer is the thing I can control, and so the freezer is where I put my energy. When I was thinking about what else to add alongside the soups and casseroles, I kept coming back to breakfast — the part of the school-morning that collapses fastest when everyone is tired and the twins are already in their feelings before 7 a.m. These maple sausage patties freeze beautifully, reheat in minutes, and are exactly the kind of quietly useful thing that makes a Tuesday in October feel survivable. Babcia Rose would have approved of anything made ahead and put away with purpose.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 12 patties

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground pork
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil or neutral oil, for the pan

Instructions

Mix the sausage. In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, maple syrup, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and red pepper flakes if using. Mix gently with your hands until just combined — do not overwork the meat.
Form the patties. Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions, roughly 2 tablespoons each. Flatten each portion into a 1/2-inch-thick round patty. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet or large plate.
Cook the patties. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, cook patties 3 to 4 minutes per side until cooked through and deeply golden, with an internal temperature of 160°F. Do not crowd the pan.
Drain and cool. Transfer cooked patties to a paper-towel-lined plate. Allow to cool completely before freezing.
Freeze for later. To freeze, arrange cooled patties in a single layer on a parchment-lined sheet and freeze 1 hour until firm. Transfer to a zip-top freezer bag, press out the air, and label with the date. Freeze up to 2 months. Reheat from frozen in a skillet over medium-low heat, covered, about 4 to 5 minutes per side, or microwave 60 to 90 seconds.

Nutrition (per serving)

Maple Sausage Patties — Making September Ready Before It Arrives