Jill Can Cook: Oven Roasted Kielbasa & Potatoes

It's no secret that I love kielbasa. I always thought I hated it when I was a kid. I never looked forward to it when my mom would make it for dinner. I rarely ate it.

And then one day my grandfather sliced some kielbasa up, marinated it in barbeque sauce and threw it on the grill. I don't even know why I grabbed one since I hated them so badly. But I did try it and I realized: I didn't hate kielbasa! I just hated how my mom cooked it (she boiled it. I think she still does to this day). From that day forward, I was in love. But only not boiled kielbasa.

My only problem now is that Joe, my husband, is not much of a fan. Boiled, grilled, whatever method of cooking, he'll eat it, but he's not very thrilled. I've gotta get this guy on board somehow. I found this recipe and I'm hoping it'll be the turning point for Joe!!

Oven Roasted Kielbasa & Potatoes

Adapted from: Recipes From The Big Blue Binder

Ingredients:

• 1 package of smoked sausage (Peel if necessary, and slice into rounds)
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 5 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
• olive oil
• fine sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• sweet paprika
• dried thyme
• a handful of grated strong cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400*F.
2. Line a large baking tray (with sides) with several sheets of foil, and drizzle with a bit of oil. Spread the oil out over the pan. Set aside.
3. Put the sausage rounds, onions and potatoes into a large bowl.
4. Drizzle with a couple TBS of olive oil and season to taste with salt, pepper, paprika and dried thyme.
5. Toss together with your hands until everything is evenly distributed.
6. Pour this out onto the baking tray, and spread it out as much as you can.
7. Place into the heated oven and roast for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until the potatoes are golden brown and tender.
8. Turn off the oven. Scatter the cheese over top of the cooked meat and potatoes,
9. Pop back into the oven a few minutes to melt the cheese. Serve immediately.

If you read the ingredients and saw the picture of my ingredients, you will notice a bit of a difference. That is because I used half as many potatoes (and half an onion since I'm not a huge onion lover). I knew my kids would eat the kielbasa, but I didn't think they'd eat the potatoes. They're weird about potatoes that aren't french fries. Anyway, I didn't want to have tons of potatoes leftover.

My foiled pan. I just tossed everything together in the pan instead of dirtying an additional bowl.

I only used 3 medium sized potatoes and look at them all!! 

Look at all that melty, cheesy goodness!

This seemed like a pretty straight forward recipe. I wasn't reinventing these ingredients, I was just putting together stuff that I'd otherwise have cooked separately. I didn't have the highest hopes that this would be the best food ever made I only hoped it didn't suck.

My portion.. Doesn't look like much but it was very filling.

I am on the fence as far as this recipe goes. It was easy to put together. It tasted good, although it was kind of bland. I ate my portion gladly. Joe went back for seconds and finished the pan. But really, making the dish this way didn't save me time or come out any better than had I made it separately. I think I would've preferred it separately, as the kielbasa didn't have that sear that I love so much.

I'm also really glad that I didn't make 5 potatoes. Quinn barely ate the 5 little pieces of potato I gave her and Mitchell didn't eat any of it. (To come to his defense: He ended up getting really sick the next day, so maybe it wasn't that the dish wasn't enticing, but rather he was already somewhat sick).

So, I'll give it a B. There's nothing inherently wrong with the recipe, but if I'm going to cut up potatoes and kielbasa, I'd prefer them cooked differently. I guess there's really no right or wrong.  I told my mom about the recipe and she made it for my dad for dinner. They both loved it.