Continuing our clearing out of our draft archives ... I wrote this back in mid-November and for some unknown reason, never posted it. It's Christmas today (merry Christmas to all who celebrate!), so let's jump back and try to finish off everything Thanksgiving-related before New Years rolls around...
Whenever I think of the new(ish) turkey sausage at Trader Joe's, the very holiday-sounding turkey cranberry apple sausage (previously reviewed here), it makes me think about Thanksgiving dinner. Since there's only 2 of us, it's perfect for the "turkey" part of a mini-Thanksgiving dinner, and that's exactly what we did both times we've had it. The first time (more here) we mixed it with candied yams and green bean casserole. This time (why the sausage is no longer pink, I have no idea, it's very confusing), I went with mustard-roasted potatoes and a brussels sprout saute in mustard sauce. Still haven't made the sausage with my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner - the stuffing - but maybe that will happen another time.
First up, the mustard-roasted potatoes. In meal planning for this week, I had initially thought I would buy a few sweet potatoes and use those for sides since they're healthier than regular potatoes (we're supposed to be cutting down on white starches...), but the price on the regular potatoes at the store (5 pounds for $1.19) was just too tempting. Of course, we then had 5 pounds of potatoes instead of 3 sweet potatoes, so I had to figure out what else to do with them. As soon as I saw this recipe for mustard-roasted potatoes on Smitten Kitchen, I knew that would be it. I followed the recipe pretty closely, so I would use the SK post as your starting point for detailed instructions.
These potatoes are basically wedge fries baked in a mustard sauce, which sounds (and was) completely awesome. Putting them together is also really straightforward, but the prep took a little longer than expected, since I am a little obsessive about removing any trace of green from the potato flesh. (Really though, who wants digestive issues? A little more work is worth the peace of mind.)
First, you slice up about 3 pounds of potatoes into wedges. (I had a general idea of how to do it, but since I wasn't completely sure and hadn't done it before, I found this video of Gordon Ramsay doing it helpful.) Then, in a large bowl, mix together 1/2 cup whole grain dijon mustard with 2 tbsp of olive oil, 2 tbsp of melted butter, the juice of 1 lemon, about 1 tsp of grated lemon peel, 3 minced cloves of garlic, about 1 tbsp of dried oregano, and some salt. Instead of using kosher salt, I opted for the Trader Joe's lemon pepper grinder, which I thought would be really complementary to this recipe. Mix the sauce together, then coat the potatoes in the sauce.
Now, the baking part. The racks go in the top and bottom third of the oven. You use 2 greased trays and spread the potatoes around. Bake for 20 minutes, swap the trays, and bake for another 25. Somewhere in there, you also turn the potatoes around. By the end of the last baking period, they should be pretty crispy.
We really liked the mustard-roasted potatoes. It was like eating seasoned fries and they're much healthier wedge fries than the ones at KFC. I can see myself making fries like this again, just maybe with not as many potatoes. That's because we ate them all. Yes, 3 pounds of potatoes and we ate them all. Add to that the 2 pounds of potatoes that I made the night before (roasted with peppers and onions) and we ate 5 pounds of potatoes in 2 days. No. More. Potatoes. (for a bit).
To go along with the potatoes and the sausage, I picked up some shaved brussels sprouts from Trader Joe's. I really wanted to make sure we ate some sort of vegetable with dinner to balance out the meat and potatoes. Although the full bag of brussels sprouts is cheaper and probably makes more overall, you can't beat the convenience of a pre-shaved bag of sprouts. So quick and easy. That's a convenience I'm willing to pay a little more for.
Since we were going to be having mustard-roasted potatoes, I had been toying with the idea of making a dijon mustard sauce for the brussels sprouts also. But then I read the SK post more closely and saw that you basically discard any of the extra mustard sauce that didn't stick to the potatoes. That was perfect! I could just add a little bit of olive oil to the mustard sauce to thin it out and then add that as the sauce for the brussels sprouts!
For this saute, I minced about 5 cloves of garlic and chopped 2 small onions, added them to a skillet with some olive oil, and sauteed them until they got a little softer, and then added the shaved brussels sprouts. Added about 1/4 cup of water and popped the cover on to let them cook, then uncovered it and added a chopped up bunch of scallions (whites and greens), as well as the mustard sauce, and then cooked it for a few more minutes. This was without a doubt our favorite part of the meal. That mustard sauce is really quite lovely.
Overall, this was a pretty good Thanksgiving mini-meal although we were both really craving some stuffing by the end of it. Leading up to Thanksgiving, we had Thanksgiving-flavored turkey sausage, mashed potatoes, candied yams, roasted potatoes, brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, and fresh cranberries, so the lack of stuffing was kind of a glaring omission. (We also didn't have gravy but since we didn't have "real" turkey, that isn't surprising and doesn't feel missed.) I see stuffing in our future!
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