Pots & Plots

I have never been that big a fan of bratwurst.  The couple of times my hubby has cooked them, they tasted like giant breakfast sausages on buns.  I’m not opposed to breakfast sausage, but I don’t want it for dinner.  I’m more of a keilbasa kind of girl.  But last grocery trip he begged, so I bought a package of Johnsonville Beer and Brats.  This time, I didn’t make the mistake of letting him cook them.  I did some research and found that virtually every brat recipe I found called for simmering them in beer and onions before tossing them on the grill.  Well there was mistake number one.  Hubby hates onions and neglects to even use them for flavoring when they should be used.  We didn’t have any beer on hand, and I wanted hard cider, so hubby sugggested that we try simmering them in that.  The results were amazing.  (Sorry, no pic again.  They disappeared too fast).

Ingredients:

• 1 package of bratwurst sausages
• enough buns for all the sausages
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 12 oz. hard cider (I used Hornsby Crisp Apple–I’d be interested to know if just apple juice would work for this recipe)

Directions:

1. Drizzle the olive oil in a skillet and turn heat to medium high.
2. Slice your onions.  If you plan to put them on your brats, you might want to make some effort to keep the rings somewhat uniform, but otherwise, just a rough chop.  Toss them into the skillet when the oil is hot and quickly sautée until caramelized.
3. Add in the brats and the cider.  Bring to a bubble and reduce heat.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Pre-heat your grill.
6. Once the brats have been simmered in their cider and onion bath for 20 minutes, remove them to the grill and cook at low flame for about 3-4 minutes per side to crisp up the casings.
7. Serve on buns with desired toppings (I like mine plain.  Hubby likes mayo, mustard, ketchup, and cheese.)

We’ve been on a sandwich kick with the beer bread this week.  After some fantabulous grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, and swiss sandwiches the other night (which I will duplicate and photograph, I promise!), we polished off the last of the loaf with these burgers.  They were a bit messy to eat, as the bread’s a bit crumbly, but boy did they taste good!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground beef
• beer bread
• swiss cheese
• half a cup of fresh baby bella mushrooms
• 2 tsps olive oil
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• fresh ground pepper
• kosher salt
• sweet smoked paprika (this is my new favorite spice–the smoky flavor is AWESOME!)

Directions:

1. Sprinkle garlic powder,  onion powder, smoked sweet paprika, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper onto the meat.  (I am sad to say I didn’t measure–my meat actually started out in patties and I sprinkled a light layer of each spice and just a bit of salt and pepper over each before mixing well to incorporate).
2. Mix well with your hands.
3. Form into two patties.
4. Light the grill and preheat to 350 (if you use gas–if you’re a charcoal person–you know better than I).
5. Grill on each side 8-10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, slice your bread and cheese.  With about five minutes left on the timer, pop the bread, with the cheese slices on one side, into the oven at about 275.  Don’t worry about preheating.
7. In a small skillet, add the olive oil and turn to medium-high heat.
8. When oil is hot, add your mushrooms and sprinkle lightly with the same spices you used on the burgers.  Sautee for approximately 3 minutes or until mushrooms begin to slightly brown.
9. If you time it right, you should be taking the burgers off the grill by the time the cheese is melty and the bread toasted.
10. Assemble your burger with plain slide on bottom, burger, mushrooms, cheesy slice on top.  The cheese helps hold the mushrooms in place.
11. If you’re one of those people who eats all that other stuff on a burger, the rest is up to you.  I’m a purist. 

A few months ago, I tried an experiment with pita pizzas. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t come anywhere near to satisfying a craving for REAL pizza. So I’ve been exploring some methods of making them a little more like the real deal. One method that was frequently mentioned on various food blogs I frequent is doing them on the grill. So we tried this one last night. The first batch came out hideously charred and practically inedible–but that’s largely because I had a total brain fart and got them all topped before I realized I’d forgotten to put on the sauce. Duh. So I tried this method again today for lunch (tres rapide!) and it turned out better.

1. Preheat grill on high, then turn down to low. [The website I read said turn to medium low, but that’s part of how mine got charred, so I say go with low].
2. Brush both sides of pita with olive oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning.
3. Some recipes I read recommend grilling one side of the pita for a couple minutes first, then flipping over to build the pizza, but I found it best to build your pizza before it goes on the grill (so you don’t forget important things like sauce). It’s possible that they meant grill it a couple minutes and then take it OFF the grill to build (which is another reason my first batch got charred), but for those of us without much of a brain at the end of the workday, these things should be spelled out!
4. Top with anything you like–some form of sauce or spread (might be an excellent use of leftover bruschetta topping–hmmm, must remember to try that), any meats or veggies you want (meat toppings should be precooked, as these won’t be on the grill long enough to cook raw meat all the way through), then add cheese.
5. Slide pizzas on the grill (again, to avoid charring, I turn the burner underneath the pizza off–hence I normally cook over the center and use the two side burners of my 3 burner gas grill).
6. Check after 5 minutes. Depending on how many you’re making, they should be done in 5-6 minutes.

The first time you do this, you probably want to check it sooner than 5 minutes since all grills cook a little differently. Adjust your cooking time accordingly.

These make great quick lunches, appetizers, or personal pan pizzas for all the picky eaters in the family.