Holly and Vic Get the EMMY, Potato and Sausage Thing Straight
This is one of those Hollywood Award presentations and meal preps that look complicated but aren’t. Holly has the skillet; Vic has been assigned to the counter, which means chopping, measuring and staying out of the way when things start to sizzle.

For 10–12 servings, use 3 pounds red potatoes cut into chunks, 2½ pounds Autumn Olive sausage sliced into thick coins, 1 large sweet onion, 3 tablespoons olive oil, ⅓ cup brown sugar, ⅓ cup cider vinegar, 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, black pepper, 10–12 cups baby spinach and 10 strips crisp bacon, crumbled.

Give the potatoes a head start in the microwave with a splash of water until barely tender, then drain. Whisk together the brown sugar, vinegar, Dijon, thyme and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Brown the sausage with the onion until the sausage develops those dark, crisp edges that make people wander into the Galley asking what is for lunch. Add the potatoes and cook another 5–7 minutes, turning them until golden.

Pour in the mustard-cider mixture and toss everything together. Let it bubble for a couple of minutes until it becomes a light glaze. Fold in the spinach just until wilted, then finish with the bacon.

That is the Dance-Off: gold potato against browned Shenandoah pork, sharp mustard against sweet cider, fresh green spinach against smoky bacon.

And Vic? Still at the counter, but with his phone to ascertain the meaning of:

“Emmy.”
An Emmy is an award presented for excellence in television. The name grew from “Immy,” an early nickname for the image orthicon television camera tube; it was changed to the more feminine-sounding “Emmy” when the television academy adopted it for its award.

Around the Socotra House Galley, however, an Emmy-worthy performance is what happens when Holly turns a skillet full of sausage and potatoes into something that makes everybody stop watching the flatscreen and start watching lunch.

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com