Like The Fox: Pan-Seared Sausages With Oven-Dried Grapes

A week or so ago, I posted about a recipe. This past Sunday, I cooked it. The recipe, quoted from "Cooking 1-2-3," follows, with my photos and comments:

I)
2.5 lb.s seedless grapes (half red, half green)*
8 large sweet Italian sausages (or hot if you like)**
1 cup dry red wine***

* I hadn't read the recipe properly when I went to the market, so I had all green grapes. It is more true to the "3 ingredients" idea if you only use one kind, but I would recommend trying red, especially if you go with my recommendation below:
** Definitely choose the hot sausages. The spice of the sausage and the dry wine complement each other well.
*** On the advice of the clerk at the liquor store, I bought a Dancing Bull zinfandel. I recommend it.

II)
Preheat oven to 275F. Wash grapes and remove stems. Place 1 cup each color on a rimmed baking sheet*. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, shaking pan often, until grapes shrivel and caramelize. This can be done in advance.

Place 1 cup each color uncooked grapes in a food processor and process thoroughly. Pour contents through a coarse-mesh sieve, pressing to extract juice. You should have 1 cup grape juice.

* I don't have a lot of kitchenware, so I used a glass baking pan. It worked fine.

III)
Prick sausages all over with a fork. Place in a very large nonstick skillet* and cook over medium-high heat until browned all over and almost cooked through. Add grape juice and remaining uncooked grapes. Cook until grapes have softened but not collapsed. Using a slotted spoon, transfer sausages and grapes to a platter. Keep warm.

* Again, I don't have a lot of kitchenware, so I used two medium-sized skillets and distributed everything between them evenly.

IV)
Raise to high heat and add wine. Cook until sauce has thickened substantially, about 5 minutes, and pour over sausages and grapes. Scatter roasted grapes on top. Serve hot*.

* Because the sausages I was using were homemade (no, not by me), they fried up kind of messily, so I found it helpful, in terms of presentation, to strain the wine sauce before serving.