Tag Archives: brats

Colorful Market Cooking

29 Sep

One of my dear friends, Noa, introduced me to the market in Grand Central Station.  Prior to that, I didn’t think shopping for fresh goods in a train station was rational, but boy was I wrong!  She introduced me to the market a few months ago and I wrote about it here.  This time, I went back to Koglin Royal Hams and got the same delicious veal brats as last time as well as the Swiss cheese filled hot dogs.  As we were exiting I decided I had to have a pluot(cross between a plum and an apricot) and noticed that this stand had beautiful looking purple potatoes.  I thought these would be a lovely compliment to falic looking meat so I went with it.  I tasked Mike to pick up whatever veggie he wanted to complete the meal.

I decided to go with roasted purple potatoes with roasted garlic.  It was a good decision. They were easy, amazing, and I highly recommend them.

Going into the oven:

Coming out of the oven:

Mike’s selection was broccoli with parmesan cheese.  I steamed it first, then put the shaved parm over it and put it in the oven with the potatoes for 5 minutes to get the cheese nice and melty.

I was much more careful not to explode my brats this time and went with a slightly different preparation method.  I put them into a pan with about 1/2 inch of water and let it simmer slightly for 10 minutes (no boiling… except when I left the heat on too much). 

I still preferred the veal brats over the Swiss cheese dogs, but the dogs would be great on a grill. The Swiss cheese filling was quite yummy.

It made for a colorful (and delicious) plate:

I’m not the biggest broccoli fan but with melted cheese it is absolutely delicious.   The potatoes were, by far, the stand out on this plate.  I want to eat more right now just looking at the pictures.

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RECIPE
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Roasted Purple Potatoes

Ingredients:

  • Purple potatoes (we got 1 pound, but more would have been better)
  • Head of garlic (all garlic peeled and removed whole)
  • 1 Tbs. Olive oil (or more, whatever is needed to coat)
  • 1 tsp. Rosemary
  • Salt & Pepper

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Cut up potatoes into wedges or slices about 1/2 inch thick
  3. Toss potato pieces, whole pieces of garlic, rosemary, and salt and pepper to taste in pan with olive oil
  4. Cover with tin foil and put in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes
  5. Serve

It’s that easy!

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Brats, Sweet Potato Caserole, and Asparagus

26 Jun

A trip to the Grand Central Market with my favorite foodie, Noa, included a trip to her favorite place for sausages: Koglin Royal Hams.  I bought the Frankonian Veal Bratwurst at her recommendation and Mike and I decided to pair it with a sweet potato caserole and asparagus in a a balsamic sauce.  These sweet potatoes were incredible, but they tasted WAY too good to be anything close to healthy.  I probably would have added nutmeg or more cinnamon to the potatoes themselves but the topping tasted like a moist pecan pie.  We made a few mistakes on the recipes, however, everything still remained delicious.

Mistake #1: Baking the potatoes takes too long.  We wound up microwaving them to get them soft enough to mash.  In the past I’ve boiled them and they tasted just as good.

Mistake #2: Peel potatoes before cooking!  We followed the recipe exactly and the peeling was one of the most laughably difficult things we’ve done

Mistake #3: Bratwurst needs to be boiled very specifically… you have to bring the water to a boil then TURN IT OFF and put the sausages in, then let them cook for ~8-12 minutes.  I made the mistake of keeping the heat on and they exploded.  Still full of flavor, they surely did NOT look pretty.



For dessert I was craving berries and schlag (aka whipped cream).  I used the leftover heavy cream to whip up some schlag and added some Bristol Cream Sherry to give it an adult kick.


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Gourmet Sweet Potato Classic

(recipe was found here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gourmet-Sweet-Potato-Classic/Detail.aspx)

Ingredients

  • 5 sweet potatoes
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
  2. Bake sweet potatoes 35 minutes on a pan in the preheated oven, or until they begin to soften. Cool slightly, peel, and mash. (Refer to note above: I recommend peeling then boiling)
  3. In a large bowl, mix the mashed sweet potatoes, salt, 1/4 cup butter, eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sugar, and heavy cream. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine 1/4 cup butter, flour, brown sugar, and chopped pecans. Mix with a pastry blender or your fingers to the consistency of course meal. Sprinkle over the sweet potato mixture.
  5. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until topping is crisp and lightly browned.

Happy Nomming!

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