Brats with Cheddar and Warm Apple Slaw

About once a week or so, we like to have a fun food night, food that is good to eat with your hands while watching a good movie. Sometimes I will make wings, pizza, or just have cheese and crackers. This is a great fall fun food recipe. I bought all natural brats (no MSG, gluten, nitrites, nitrates, yadda yadda), cooked them up and melted sharp cheddar on them and served a warm local cabbage and apple slaw on top. It.Was.Killer.

What you will need (makes 6)

6 All-Natural Brats, either pork or chicken
Ceddar Cheese, enough to cover brats
6 Hotdog Buns
1t vegetable oil
1/2 head of green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 carrot, julienned
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
1 apple of your choosing, thinly sliced (I used Honeycrisp)
1T apple cider vinegar
1/4 caraway seeds
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium heat, add brats and cook until brown. Flip and start cooking on other side. Push the brats to one side and add the oil to the pan. Add cabbage, carrots, onions, and apples. Cook, tossing occasionally until the onion begins to soften. Add the caraway, cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Add the cheese to the brats. Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue to cook until cheese is melted and the vegetables are slightly soft, but still crunchy. Serve in a toasted bun.

Bacon Wrapped Apples with Blue Cheese

This yummy little treat is a perfect hors d'oeuvres or serve a few on top of mixed greens with a balsamic vinaigrette. They are very easy to make; the sweet/salty/creamy combination is perfect for the fall.

What you will need: (makes 10)

1 sweet, firm apple (Honeycrisp, Fuji, Gala)
5 slices of bacon
pinch of ground cinnamon
4 oz good quality blue cheese*

* I used Rogue Creamery's Oregon Blue. Basically, use any blue cheese expect the crumbles.

Cut the apple into ten equal slices, make sure the core is removed. Cut the pieces of bacon in half. Wrap the bacon around the apple and sprinkle with cinnamon. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Place the apples bacon seam side down. Cook until the bacon is done, flip and continue cooking. Once the bacon is done, remove from the pan and add blue cheese on top.

Spicy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

In my first semester of culinary school, I fell in love with making soups. I loved the entire process, making stock to have on hand, making sure all other ingredients were sized to fit on the spoon, the smell of mirepoix sauteing, seasoning layer by layer, and slowly adding cream as to not curdle it. The thing is, I was damn good at it too. I always told myself, that if I end up in a classic French brigade de cuisine, I would be a Saucier (one who is in charge of sauces and warm hors d'oeuvres...another one of my favorite things to do) or a Potager (soup maker). When the weather starts getting cold, I can live off of soup. This is one of my favorite fall soups. Local butternut squash, spicy sausage, and a splash of cream to balance the two, this soup makes me want to put on fuzzy socks and curl up on the couch. I typically make a double batch and freeze in serving size containers. Makes for an easy, ready to go meal.

You will need:
1 butternut squash, about 2 pounds
2T olive oil
1c onion, small diced
1 1/2t garlic, minced
1/2c carrot, small diced
1/2t ground cumin
2 c low sodium vegetable stock*
1/4c heavy cream
3 links spicy sausage, such as spicy Italian, andouille, or chorizo**
Salt and Pepper to taste

*For the love of Julia, always use low to no sodium stocks, you can always add salt
**You can use pork or chicken sausage, I used a spicy Italian chicken sausage.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half and drizzle lightly with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place on a sheet pan, cut side up and roast for 40-50 minutes. Allow the squash to cool to the touch. In a large sauce pot, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and garlic, and cook until the onion begins to brown. Add the cumin, salt, pepper, and scoop the squash into the pot. Add stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a frying pan, add the sausage. Cook until done and either chop finely with a knife or pulse until fine in a food processor.When the soup is done, blend together with an immersion blender (or in batches in a food processor). Puree until smooth. Fold in the sausage and slowly add cream. Season with salt and pepper.

                             

Halloween Meatloaf Fun

Man, I am a bad food blogger! I swear, I have cooked in the past 3 months! For Halloween, I made these meatloaf hands. I got the idea from notmartha.com (great website). They used a hand mold to sculpt the shape, but I just did it by hand. I used my standard meatloaf recipe, which you can change to a turkey loaf, added onions for the fingernails and wrist bones and added provolone cheese to create the burnt skin look. Tip: always pull your meat out 5-10 degrees cooler then what you want it to be, it will continue to cook as it rests. Also, you can hide imperfections in the shape of the hand by piping mashed potatoes around it.

Meat Hands (makes 2 hands)

1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/3 cup whole milk
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium celery rib, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

4 sliced of bacon, diced

1 1/2 pounds ground beef chuck

1/2 pound ground pork

2 large eggs

1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 onion

4 slices provolone cheese

1/2 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Soak bread crumbs in milk in a large bowl. Meanwhile, cook onion, garlic, celery, and carrot in butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, allspice, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Add to bread-crumb mixture. Add bacon to onion mixture along with beef, pork, eggs, and parsley and mix together with your hands. Shape into 2 hands. Slice onion into a fingernail shape and attach to the meatloaf. Spread ketchup on the top of the hands. Tear provolone and cover the entire meat hand, except the fingernails. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until the internal temperature is 160 degrees. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.