One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed about being part of the Johnsonville Bloggers Panel is the opportunity to try more of their products. For example, in the last post I talked about their No Ordinary Burger contest, and I even shared my recipe with you all. Furthermore I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the amount of free info and advice that Johnsonville is putting out there to all of us. Which is the inspiration for today’s post.
I think it’s fair to say that most tailgaters have had to plan the menu for their tailgate at the last minute. Maybe you came into some tickets that you weren’t planning on, or life just got in the way of making a trip to the grocery store when you would have liked to. In these situations it’s easy to fall back on the basic grilling staples, hotdogs, cheeseburgers, etc. Now I’m certainly not saying, or even suggesting, that there is anything wrong with simple “go-to” type foods. In fact I often encourage keeping things simple as I’d rather have a simple tailgate go well, than a tailgate that was over the top and failed.
And when you really think about it, there isn’t much difference between an unplanned tailgate and not knowing what you’re going to have for dinner at home. The wife and I were faced with that predicament just the other day. I happened to have a couple coupons left for some brats so I suggested that she check their website for a recipe that she might like to try. Since we weren’t at home, and being the typical 20-somethings that we are, we used a smart phone to conduct our query. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Johnsonville has engineered a terrific mobile site.
In my opinion one of the best functions on this particular site is the ability to search for recipes based on product. Using that tool we picked out a recipe that used their traditional brats, the Gyro Brat Hoagie.
On a side note: Based on our results, and more exploration into the other recipes I’ve come to the conclusion that the bratwurst is a pretty versatile sausage. It isn’t so spicy that it overpowers other ingredients, but it isn’t so bland that you forget that it’s in the dish.
So here’s what the Gyro Brat Hoagie recipe looks like with a picture of the one that we made.
(From Johnsonville.com)
What you need
SAUCE:
- 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
- 1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper, optional
HOAGIE:
- 1 package (19 ounces) JOHNSONVILLE® Original Bratwurst
- 1 loaf (1 pound) French bread
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
Preparation
- 1 Preheat oven to 350°F.
- 2 In a bowl, combine sauce ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until serving.
- 3 Grill brats according to package directions.
- 4 When cool enough to handle, cut into ¼-inch bias slices.
- 5 Slice French bread lengthwise and transfer to a baking sheet.
- 6 Arrange brat slices on bread bottom.
- 7 Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes or until bread is lightly browned.
- 8 Remove from oven. Top with the sauce, onion and tomato.
- 9 Cut hoagie and serve.
I know it’s not the best picture in the world, but the sandwich was really good. Even though this one was made inside, I have no doubt that this recipe could be easily adapted for tailgating. You could use your grill as the oven in the recipe, or you could make individual sandwiches as I did the 2nd time I made this. I just used their frozen brat patties and put them on a nice kaiser roll. It worked just as well.
If you’re interested in exploring the other recipes and tips I’d strongly encourage you to visit their website, Twitter, and Facebook pages. I’ve found them to be quite helpful, and fun.
And while we’re on the topic of Facebook be sure to check out their contest which is asking you for your worst grilling disaster stories. The winner gets brats for a year, and some other neat prizes. While you’re there be sure to check out the “BratTender” quiz. I can’t make any promises but there have been some folks who have gotten some free swag from the “BratTender” for sharing their results on social media sites.