Sausages with Mustard Mashed Potatoes

Not so long ago, kosher sausages were not all they could have been, not by far, but they were all that was available. Now, with choices like Pomegranate Supermarket (1507 Coney Island Avenue – corner of Avenue L – Brooklyn, New York 11230; Tel: 718.951.7112) sausages or Jack’s Gourmet Kosher Sausages (here, here, here, etc..), the kosher palate can delight in a plethora of incredible flavors.

(Adapted from 365 Ways to Cook – published by Firefly Books)

Photo from: 665 Ways to Cook, page 61

Serves 4
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 8 Sausages (I used Jack’s Gourmet Kosher Sweet Italian Sausages, but any other of their selections will do as well).
• 2 onions, cut into wedges
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 apples cored and cut into wedges
• 3/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons chicken stock

For the mustard mash

• 2 pounds potatoes, quartered and scrubbed
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1-2 tablespoons whole grain mustard (I used Coleman’s)
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• 1 large bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
• dash of olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Put the potatoes into a large saucepan of cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes, until tender.
2. Meanwhile, fry or grill the sausages over medium heat for 10 minutes, turning them to get an even color. Add the onion and apple wedges and cook with the sausages for 6-7 minutes.
3. Drain the potatoes well. When they are cool  enough to touch , peel them, then mash well so they are nice and creamy. Add the margarine, mustard, garlic and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper to the potatoes and continue mashing. Taste and add more mustard if you want. Stir in the the parsley and olive oil.
4. Transfer the sausages, onion and apple to a serving plate. Pour off the excess fat from the pan to leave about 1 tablespoon, then mix in the flour. Gradually stir in the stock, bring to a boil and stir until thickened. Season and strain into a serving dish or pitcher.
5. Pile the mashed potatoes  up on a plate and stick the sausages and onion wedges on top. Spoon over the gravy and serve.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

The Contests, so Far…

Because of many requests, we’ve extended our contests until October 31st. On the Jack’s Gourmet Contest, we are giving away $100.00 worth of Jack’s Gourmet Kosher sausages plus a Jack’s Gourmet baseball cap.

Jack's Gourmet is giving $100.00 in all 5 varieties of their sausages, plus a Jack's Gourmet baseball cap

What do you have to do to win all these? How about sending us your best recipes using Jack’s Gourmet kosher sausages. The contest runs through October 31st, winner will be chosen by Chef Jack Silberstein and Dr. Alan Bronner (Jack’s Gourmet owners) and will be announced on these pages on Monday November 14. send in your recipes to kosherscene@gmail.com. If you care to accompany your entry with a good photo of the finished dish, we’ll feature it right here on our blog. To get an idea of what we are looking for go here, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you’ll find some interesting recipes, including two of our own.

SYR's Sausage Pizza, hmm, hmmm! - https://kosherscene.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/jack’s-gourmet-–-part-2/

So far we’ve received 21 recipes ranging from less than mediocre to delicious and creative. We extended the contest as you, gentle reader, requested; why don’t you send those recipes? Show us your creativity!

As for our other contest, don’t forget to send us in your ideas for avoiding the back to school blues to: kosherscene@gmail.com. Why not send us photos of unusual and interesting lunchboxes?

We will publish the best photos and ideas and pick a winner who will receive:

• 1 carton of juice boxes
• 1 dozen assorted fruit roll-ups
• 1 lunch box

Keep those recipes and ideas coming, gentle reader, get to work!

CS

EXTRA, EXTRA! Contest, Contest!!!

Starting today and running until September 20, one of you – gentle readers – will have the chance to win 2 Jack’s Gourmet Variety Packs ($100.00 value)…

and a Jack’s Gourmet cap…

What do you have to do to win all these? How about sending us your best recipes using Jack’s Gourmet. sausages. The contest runs through September 20th, winner will be chosen by Chef Jack Silberstein and Dr. Alan Bronner (Jack’s Gourmet owners) and will be announced on these pages on Monday October 3rd. send in your recipes to kosherscene@gmail.com. If you care to accompany your entry with a good photo of the finished dish, we’ll feature it right here on our blog. To get an idea of what we are looking for go here, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you’ll find some interesting recipes, including two of our own.

Meanwhile don’t forget to send us in your ideas for avoiding the back to school blues to: kosherscene@gmail.com. Why not send us photos of unusual and interesting lunchboxes.

We will publish the best photos and ideas and pick a winner who will receive:

• 1 carton of juice boxes
• 1 dozen assorted fruit roll-ups
• 1 lunch box

Keep those recipes and ideas coming, gentle reader. get to work!

CS

And this Coming Wednesday’s Show…

Last Wednesday we had a great show with Chef Lévana Kirschenbaum as our guest. As you can hear, here, she was informative, witty and charming.

This coming Wednesday’s show will feature Chef Jack Silberstein from Jack’s Gourmet Kosher. What is Jack’s Gourmet Kosher? Two partners formed this young company. Who are they? As we said before:

Chef Jack Silberstein

Chef Jack graduated  from the Culinary Institute of America (America’s foremost culinary school) in Hyde Park, NY, in 2007. He worked as a private chef aboard a yacht and is a respected consultant with the meat industry. Dr. Broner is a dentist with a popular private practice as well as a professor of dentistry. Dr. Broner has a long time interest in cooking and fine cuisine having attended many courses and cooking demos both in Manhattan (many at the De Gustibus School School of Good Taste) and in Brooklyn. It was, in fact, at one such course given in Brooklyn (by Chef Jack) that the two partners met.

And what is the company producing?

Noting the lack of anything resembling good tasting sausages in the kosher world, they set out to produce them. I can attest they’ve succeeded and deliciously so!!! Not only were they the most popular stop at Kosherfest 2010, but every time I stopped by I saw most of the celebrity chefs standing in line waiting to get another bite.

To find out more about Jack’s Gourmet Kosher delicious products, check out our own reviews: Jack’s Gourmet – Part 1 and Jack’s Gourmet – Part 2.

Just listen in, gentle reader, at 8:00pm on Wednesday, February 2nd, on Jewish Radio Network. Enter the site and click on the red “here” under the white “Radio,” then wait about 30 to 90 seconds for the application to start streaming.

CS

Jack’s Gourmet – Part 1

Of the delicious products (new and old) I got to taste at this year’s Kosherfest, Jack’s Gourmet sausages rank among the best. With no fillers, no by-products and no artificial flavors their natural goodness makes them a superb choice for a cold winter eve… or any other occasion.

Jack’s Gourmet, the company is the brainchild of two partners. Chef Jack Silberstein and Dr. Alan Broner.

Chef Jack Silberstein, Dr. Alan Broner

Chef Jack graduated  from the Culinary Institute of America (America’s foremost culinary school) in Hyde Park, NY, in 2007. He worked as a private chef aboard a yacht and is a respected consultant with the meat industry. Dr. Broner is a dentist with a popular private practice as well as a professor of dentistry. Dr. Broner has a long time interest in cooking and fine cuisine having attended many courses and cooking demos both in Manhattan (many at the De Gustibus School School of Good Taste) and in Brooklyn. It was, in fact, at one such course given in Brooklyn (by Chef Jack) that the two partners met.

Noting the lack of anything resembling good tasting sausages in the kosher world, they set out to produce them. I can attest they’ve succeeded and deliciously so!!! Not only were they the most popular stop at Kosherfest 2010, but every time I stopped by by I saw most of the celebrity chefs standing in line waiting to get another bite.

Their sausages come in 5 varieties:

• Mexican Style Chorizo
• Boereworks (South African style)
  
• Sweet Italian
• Hot Italian
• Cured Bratwurst

They also produce the best tasting, most aromatic, 1st Cut Pastrami and 1st Cut Corned Beef Brisket, I ever had.

Jack's Gourmet mouthwatering selections

I picked up all these selections last Thursday. After tasting the superb pastrami and corned beef I started that evening’s dinner with rolls made with corned beef, pastrami and bratwurst…

truly succulent!

On Shabbos, I used the Cured Bratwurst as one of the three types of meat (pastrami deckel and cheek were the other two) I put in cholent. The taste, the aroma, were incredibly enhanced. It was one of my most successful experiments and probably the best cholent I ever made.

Well, gentle reader, I guess I’ll have to come back and tell you about the rest of the flavors…

CS

Kosherfest: Day 2

We went back to Kosherfest yesterday and once again it did not disappoint. Interesting products were abundant, a lot of the old classics were improved and there quite a few new ideas as well.

One delicious variation on an old classic was this frozen pizza by Mor Fun Foods…

Tastes fresh, not frozen!

Next we passed by Toobro, a distributor of the Golan brand of cheeses, Morning Select, Spreads Instead, Emes, etc., etc., We will, be’ezras Hashem, do a more in-depth review of their products over the next few weeks.

Toobro's portfolio of brands...

Products we got to taste within Toobro‘s lines included a delicious Roaster Garlic and Herbs by Spread Instead. Spread Instead products are succulent blends of gourmet cream cheese, herbs, etc.  Frankly, we couldn’t enough of it… Superb, excellent, delicious… none of these words do actual justice to the taste

Deeeelishious!

Next we visited Lily Bloom’s Kitchen. The owner, Larry Shiller, took his mother’s recipe for delicious macaroons (I’ve never been a fan of macaroons, but these were good!!!), in various flavors: Chocolate, White Chocolate and Raspberry, Chocolate/Almond, Chocolate/Walnut, Chocolate/Peanut Butter, Chocolate/Cinnamon, Chocolate/Cherry, and Chocolate/Orange.

Winner of Kosherfest 2010 Best New Product

Next we passed by the Kedem Marketplace pavillion…

Partial views of Royal Wine Corporations huge selection of wines and liquors

Being an unabashed, uncompromising cheese lover, I was truly excited to see Israel’s Seyman company bringing its huge selection of European made cheeses from such famous names as La Cremerie, Coeur de Lion, St. Maure, Bresse Bleu, etc. I can’t wait for them to find an American distributor…

I can't wait for the moment I walk in to kosher supermarket and pick up a Manchego!

Organic Traditions, had some very interesting items:

Cacao Nibs, Vanilla Poda, Goji Berries, dried Apricots and so much more

Finally I was ready for the talk of show, the pièce de résistance, something quite a few celebrities kept on going back to time and again (don’t worry I won’t name you, you know who you are!)… Jack’s Gourmet Sausages.

Dr. Bronner - Jack's Gourmet's co-owner and some of those incredible sausages or what was left of them...

Frankly, there were quite a few more items we loved and we’ll review some of them in-depth over the next few weeks. All in all, we were excited by what we saw and tasted. Kosher is no longer just gefilte, kasha, or brisket, kosher wine is far beyond Extra Sweet Malaga or Extra Sweet Concord… we now have world class selections!

CS