NJ SPICE

I did get a little ahead of the cool weather when I made this dish a couple weeks ago.

But I’d been to Mallery’s Grazin’ Meats and brought home both sweet and hot Italian Sausage.

And I had these amazingly flavorful Thomcord grapes from Trader Joe’s. It’s been years since I’ve enjoyed seedless grapes, as the typical Thomson green grapes and the red “flame” grapes in the markets just have very little flavor, I think. I love Concord grapes for their intense flavor, but the seeds do drive me a little nuts.  Finally someone crossed them successfully, and these Thomcords are fantastic, smallish, deep blue/red, and almost as flavorful as Concords. 

So, mostly following the recipe I found on Orangette, I browned the sausages in a skillet, turning once or twice.  I put them in a baking dish and nestled the grapes around them, and drizzled everything with a little olive oil  I baked it in a 475 oven for 25 minutes, before reducing the sauce and adding the balsamic vinegar.

I served it with mashed potatoes, polenta might have been a nice alternative, too.  A delicious early fall meal, albeit pushing the season a bit.