A few weeks ago, I was again one of the lucky ones to be chosen by the kind folks at Johnsonville to be a “sneak taster”  for their new line of Butcher Shop-Style Sausages! And next up was their new, all-natural casing, Swisswurst Sausages! I could hardly wait to try them! The first ones we tried, their Bacon Cheddar ones, absolutely rocked, and I knew these would be just as good! 

And boy are they ever! Just like the first ones we tried, these, too, have a really nice, coarse grind to the meat inside, lots of swiss cheese, and oh those natural casings! They have a wonderful snap to them and are so much fun to eat!! Though they come fully cooked, you can still grill them and cook with them any way you you’d like. 

I decided to do a fun twist on a kind of German Potato Salad! I thought it would be fun to try a different approach, and do the potato salad on the grill! And even more fun, to do them on skewers threaded with bacon. 😉 I wanted a little bit of a spark to the mix so I also added jalapeño peppers! The sliced Swisswursts went beautifully with the mix, and the peppers lent the perfect amount of heat! My hubby didn’t care for the jalapeños though, so I happily ate his! 😉 I didn’t think that they were very hot at all, but if you or someone in your family has a hard time tolerating them too, you can simply use a bell pepper instead. 😉  

I whipped up a really nice, sweet and tangy marinade, and marinated everything but the bacon for several hours, marinating the jalapeños separately so that they wouldn’t heat everything in the bowl, though, keeping my hubby’s sensitivity to them in mind. I was very glad I thought to do this, or even for this fire-breathing dragon, it may have been a little too much heat. 😉 So I recommend that you do the same. Just enjoying eating them grilled, provided the perfect amount of heat for me and didn’t completely overpower everything else and steal the limelight. 

I also like to cut my onions into wedges straight through the root end so that the wedges stay intact and don’t fall apart. But if they do, don’t worry, just thread a few together onto the skewer and use some on the ends, too.  

Once everything has marinated a bit, just thread the Swisswurst chunks and veggies onto the skewers weaving a strip of bacon in-between each item. If you’re using wooden skewers, be sure to soak them in cool water first so that they don’t burn up on the grill. They’ll still get a little singed, but they’ll be fine. Square sided skewers work best so that food doesn’t slip and spin, but wooden ones work well, too, and are a dime a dozen at the dollar stores. 😉  

These are really easy and fun to grill, because the potatoes and sausages are already precooked. So basically, all you’re doing, is just cooking and charring the veggies and bacon. And even thick-cut bacon doesn’t take very long to cook on the grill. Mine was done in just 20 minutes over fairly low heat with the lid closed. I turned them and basted them often, and they really did extremely well! I was really worried about flare-ups from the bacon fat, but that surprisingly never even happened! 😀  

I can’t believe I actually grilled. On a day that was 94 degrees in the shade. And I was in the sun. Call me crazy, but I really had a blast!! 😀  

I must tell you, these kabobs are truly – – WOW!!!!!!! I am still a little shocked at how good these were! I got up in the middle of the night, and believe me, it took every OUNCE of willpower that I had not to sneak one of the leftover ones!! This is a MUST MAKE friends!!! 

A huge thanks to the people at Johnsonville for allowing us to enjoy and test your new line of Butcher Shop-Style Sausages! My hubby and I have truly enjoyed the two flavors that  we’ve tried so far! So if you guys out there are looking for a wonderful sausage that’s also convenient, I think you’ll really love these, too! They’re very good, have a really great texture, they don’t skimp on the flavor and the cheese, and you’ll LOVE the natural casings that they come in! Really super fun to eat and cook with! And this recipe compliments them PERFECTLY. BOY did it ever!! 😀  

So don’t wait another day! Pick some up and make this recipe! SO not kidding! I KNOW you’re going to love this!! And I will be VERY jealous when you do! 😉 You all take care and have a wonderful day, and I’ll see ya soon! 😀   

*Note: These are my very own personal opinions of this product.

Yield: 2-4

Grilled German Potato Salad On a Stick with Johnsonville Butcher Shop-Style Swisswurst

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

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Ingredients

For the Marinade:

• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 Tbl. dark brown sugar
• 1/2 Tbl. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 Tbl. EVOO
• 1 tsp. spicy brown mustard
• 1/2 tsp. finely minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. worcestershire sauce
• dash each salt and fresh cracked black pepper
• [br]

Rest of Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized red potatoes, unpeeled, cut into eighths and precooked
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Johnsonville Butcher Shop-Style Swisswurst Sausages, sliced into 6 pcs. each
• 1 medium vidalia onion cut into wedges
• 1-2 large jalapeño peppers or 1 mild sweet bell pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 4 strips lean quality thick-style bacon

Instructions

Whisk marinade ingredients well and set aside.

Place cut-up potatoes into microwave-safe bowl with 1/4 cup water. Cover with a sheet of paper towel. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Remove, drain, and set aside to cool.

Slice off sprout end of onion and peel leaving root end on. Place cut end-down onto cutting board and slice through root end cutting onion into 6 wedges. Pull apart half of wedge and carefully cut though root end making smaller wedges keeping them intact with the root. (*See photo above.)

Cut rest of ingredients and place into a large bowl or ziploc baggie. (Except bacon.) Pour marinade over and marinate in fridge for several hours. *See note at bottom.

Carefully thread ingredients onto skewers weaving a piece of bacon as you go. You should get 4-5 nice-sized skewers. Pour marinade back into a small measuring pitcher or bowl.

Get grill hot, turn down to med/low, oil grates and grill skewers with lid closed, turning and basting, until done. About 20-25 minutes depending on your grill. Watch so that they don't burn checking on them as needed.

Notes

*If using jalapeños, keep in mind that they will add heat to everything you're marinating them with. So, marinate them separately, or just use a bell pepper if a little heat is not desired.
**I sliced the sausages on the bias and threaded them both ways to see which way worked the best. Either way you thread them, through the casing or through the inner meat, works perfectly fine and you don't lose any of the cheese.