Summer Sausage And Swiss Spread Food

GRILLED SUMMER SAUSAGE SLIDERS

Steps:

• In a small pot, bring the vinegar, honey, salt, bay leaf and 1/2 cup water to a simmer. Turn off the heat, transfer to a medium bowl and stir in the fennel. Let come to room temperature, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Heat a grill or grill pan over medium heat. Grill the summer sausage until crisp, 5 minutes. Flip the sausage, and make stacks of 3 to 4 slices on the grill. Top each stack with a couple of pieces of cheese, cover the grill and let cook until melted. Remove from the heat and drain on paper towels.
• Spread the slider buns with butter and grill until lightly toasted. Place some pickled fennel on the bottom piece of a slider bun. Top with a stack of the cheese-grilled summer sausage, a crisp piece of lettuce and a dollop of Sriracha Lime Mayo. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. The sweet and sour balance takes it to another level.
• Mix together the mayonnaise, Sriracha, honey and lime juice in a small bowl.

SUMMER SAUSAGE AND SWISS SPREAD

Steps:

• In food processor, pulse the meat chunks until finely ground with an s blade. Do not over process, just pulse until it resembles ground beef. Place beef in medium mixing bowl, scrape processor and return to base.
• Add Swiss cheese cubes to processor and pulse until pieces are small split pea size. (It helps to have the Swiss cold from the fridge to chop it rather than mush it up.) Scrape chopped Swiss into mixing bowl. Here it is your choice whether to hand chop the celery into fine dice or to use processor to chop. (I chop the celery and finely mince the onion by hand as I think you can hand chop more uniform pieces. And it is very difficult to get a finely minced onion with such a small amount in the processor.)Add chopped celery, onion, sweet relish, and mayo to mixing bowl and combine well. If the meat mixture is too dry, add a little more mayo until desired consistency.
• You can serve the meat mixture by itself, or you can mix in the softened cream cheese and serve at room temperature. This makes a very tasty spread for crackers or crostini, and a good filling for celery sticks, cherry tomatoes or other "Fill-able veggies"

CHEF JOHN'S SUMMER SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Smash celery into juicy bits using a mortar and pestle. Combine with ground beef in a large bowl. Add garlic powder, paprika, mustard seeds, kosher salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, curing salt, and sugar. Mix by hand until thoroughly combined.
• Transfer meat onto a large piece of parchment paper. Use damp hands to shape into a 3- to 4-inch-thick log. Roll up in the parchment paper, compressing it as much as possible. Twist ends tightly to seal. Place on a paper towel-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 24 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
• Cut ends off the parchment paper and unwrap meat. Mix liquid smoke with water and generously brush over the meat. Roll meat back up in the paper, then again in aluminum foil, sealing it tightly and twisting the ends in opposite directions.
• Line a baking sheet with a wire rack and place the sealed meat on top. Poke 5 or 6 holes across the bottom for excess moisture to drip out.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the internal temperature reaches 150 degrees F (66 degrees C) and no higher, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Let sausage cool in the pan until room temperature, at least 30 minutes. Give ends a tighter twist, then refrigerate at least 8 hours, or overnight.
• Unwrap sausage and slice in half. Coat outsides with freshly ground black pepper, place on a plate lined with crinkled foil, and let dry in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

PIZZA WITH SAUSAGE, SAUERKRAUT AND SWISS CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425¡F. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and caraway seeds and sauté until onion just begins to brown, about 7 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to large bowl. Mix in sauerkraut and 1 tablespoon sauerkraut juice. Cool to lukewarm, then mix in cheese. Season generously with pepper.
• Place pizza crust on baking sheet. Spread with Dijon mustard and top with sausage, then sauerkraut mixture.
• Bake pizza until cheese melts, topping begins to brown and crust is crisp, about 15 minutes. Transfer pizza to work surface; cut into wedges and serve.