Thanks to Johnsonville Canada, I had the opportunity to attend the #HowDoYouJohnsonville media event this week at the newly opened David Hawksworth restaurant, Nightingale. The event was to promote the partnership between Canadian celebrity Chef Mark McEwan and Johnsonville. Mark McEwan has several of his recipes featured on the Johnsonville website and is a spokesperson for Johnsonville sausages.

For this particular evening, I had the opportunity to try several of Nightingale’s popular dishes but substituted with Johnsonville sausages, including sharing a slice of pizza with Chef Mark!

Other dishes included the Johnsonville Sweet Basil Italian Sausage Meatballs, Braised Tripe with Johnsonville Hot Italian Sausage, and Grilled Johnsonville Country Garlic Sausage with Heirloom Tomato, Castelvetrano Olive, and Arugula. I was surprised to see how Johnsonville sausages can be elevated to the next level in these beautifully plated, mouth watering dishes yet using simple and affordable ingredients.

My favourite dish of the tasting menu was Nightingale’s Baked Sweet Potato with Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage (Nightingale’s usual dish uses bacon), Jalepeno, and Scallion. I loved how the Nightingale team was able to use the Italian Sausage to mimic the bacon. It was sweet and spicy all in one bite.

This intimate media event allowed myself and several of other fellow Vancouver foodies to chat with Chef Mark, who is quite down to earth, approachable and highly knowledgeable in the food industry. He mentioned how Johnsonville produces high quality sausages and loves to work with it at home to make some simple easy-to-make at home dishes. We chatted about his restaurants in Toronto, enjoying the great outdoors in BC, and some of his signature dishes he serves in Toronto. It was a great evening, and thanks to Johnsonville, we all took home some sausages with a challenge to #HowDoYouJohnsonville with the sausages and a suggested recipe – Chef Mark McEwan Sausage Melt with American Cheese and Caramelized Onions.

Follow me on Instagram @alicejhwong and @maryinvancity to find out what will be the end result with these sausages or my attempt at making Chef Mark’s recipe!