My sister handles our family’s Thanksgiving celebration. My only contribution is the appys for cocktails pre-dinner. And this year I was really thankful for that division of duties since I catered a big party last weekend and was still in recovery mode. I hadn’t even thought out what I might bring for appetizers — and then I saw Big Red Kitchen‘s andouille sausage and sweet potato kabobs and I knew this had to be one of the items.
I also wasn’t planning to do a Thanksgiving post but the preparation of this item brought to mind that it pays to taste while you cook. I always do, but I know many do not.
I got the inspiration from Robin and ran with it. I saw Chorizo Chicken sausage at Whole Foods and when I read the ingredients (Whole Foods has ingredient signs next to everything in their meat case), I thought this would be the perfect sausage…a little heat to go with the sweet of the yams plus it had Thanksgiving type spices like cinnamon and allspice.
I bought enough to have one for dinner. Fuego! (that’s fire in Spanish). Ay caramba, this sausage is spicy. In retrospect, I should have known. Ground chicken isn’t all that tasty so they heavy-handed the spices.
It pays to taste because I realized I’d need to add another sweet component when I made the appetizer so I decided to whip up (figuratively, not literally) a little topping with some red peppers I’d roasted for another meal and a vinaigrette of honey and fresh lime juice.
Rather than cut the potatoes as coins, I decided to slice then on on the mandolin, bake them till tender, and wrap them around the sausage which was cut circular, like coins, so both sides got a crisp when baked. [Don’t go higher than 350 degrees for the potatoes because they burn fast…trust me, I know.)
I rolled and baked them again to meld the flavors (each had been cooked separately). And I tasted again. Still a little too much fire. So I drizzled some honey on the top and put them back in the oven for a few minutes.
Final Taste before leaving for the party.
The honey helped but it’s still too spicy. If you read my blog, you know i’m not a wimp. I love spice but it should enhance, not dwarf the other flavors. Anyway, I‘m glad I’m not a one-appy-kind-of-gal. There will be other choices for the faint of palate.
I really like the technique for this appetizer and while I won’t be standing on line for Chorizo Chicken Sausage at Whole Foods, I’ve got a flurry of other ideas…like rolling the yam around a date stuffed with a pecan and goat cheese or another kind of sausage!
Hope you’re all having a great day!
17 Comments
Subscribe to the Comments
oh so very unique! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
That’s such a lovely appetizer. I love sweet potatoes. I’ll eat a big plate of these. Thanks for sharing
I like the whole concept – maybe I’d try it with chorizo instead. But boy does it ever look pretty and love the pics and the tutorial.
Quite an idea Joan! I’d love to see you try this with some of your other suggestions. I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!
You are so right – it pays to taste, especially a new dish. When it comes to tasting, I can hear Emerill saying, “Taste your food; you don’t want your family to be gunny pigs.” And it’s true.
These are gorgeous. You must have gotten a lot of oohs and ahhs. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Sam
They look and sound delicious. I bet there were no leftovers.
Bet it tasted as good as it looked.
this looks awesome. I was glad to meet you too. Thanks for coming up to me and saying hi. I really appreciate it.
much love and happy holidays to you and yours.
Hmmm…they look fabulous, I would definitely try with some freshly ground pork.
Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving Joan!
LL
Joan I knew you would come up with a nifty twist on this appetizer. Love the stuffed Yam idea! Too bad the sausage was too hot. Ours was spicy and just right, I do not like when hot foods overpower the taste of the dish either. Around a date would be great too I think!
I always taste everything which is why there are days I never eat, except for the tasting, or I’d be 500 pounds. LOL. I love your idea of the sausage and sweet potatoes, but alas, I’m a purist. I can’t do turkey bacon or chicken sausage. I love full on pig all the way. And, you nailed it. Chicken has NO flavor, so they have to add who knows what.
That looks delicious!I will try mine with Colombian chorizo
Joan, I am going to post your recipe today! Thank you very much.
I am a wimp when it comes to spicy so I am sure it would be equally as delicious with a mild chicken sausage.
A perfect appetizer! I love the idea of wrapping a thinly sliced sweet potato around the spicy sausage – yum!
Happy Thanksgiving Beauty!!! I love to know about the whole process and how you experimented with the food until achieving the best result
. I don’t like very picante food but you got so creative here that I would love to taste and see how it ended up. Pictures are really beautiful Joan.
Those look delicious Joan! You are so right about making sure to taste as you go along…adjustments are often necessary!
I can’t imagine not tasting while I cook! I’m actually surprised to hear that some don’t.
Love the kabobs. I will definitely try these.
Trackbacks / Pingbacks
show trackbacks