Sausage pasta ... lockdown inventions

The veg box lands tomorrow, and we're trying to use stuff up from the cupboard.  The fresh stuff was tomatoes, spinach and salad leaves.  The fridge/cupboard stuff was some sweety peppers and half a jar of Polish salad.  What to do with sausages which is tasty, but not too faffy?

Sausage pasta!  It was very, very tasty.

Red onion
Olive oil
Chipolata sausages
Sweety red peppers in a jar
Tomatoes
Spinach
Pasta (fusilli in this case)
Sweetcorn
Spinach

Polish salad in a jar
Mayonnaise

Salad leaves

1.  Sautee chopped red pepper in olive oil, add sausages, and cook them through.
2.  When sausages are nearly cooked - chop the into bite sized pieces.
3.  Dice sweet peppers and tomatoes.
4.  Drain and rinse the polish salad, stir in mayonnaise and put in the fridge until ready to serve.
5.  Cook pasta.
6.  Chuck peppers and tomatoes into sausages, simmer gently.  Add sweetcorn after a few minutes.
7.  Drain pasta, chuck into sausage mixture and handfuls of spinach.  Stir until spinach is wilted.
8.  Serve, with salad leaves, scoff.  (veg dodger had thirds!)

Roast salmon, with dill and mustard sauce, garlicky beans and a kind of pilau - for Moulin Rouge!

Many Saturday's we have movie night, and I try to theme dinner with the movie.  This week it was Moulin Rouge! so I took a French take on dinner.  It's not restaurant quality presentation, but though I say it myself I was very, very tasty.

Double peeling the broad beans is tedious, but the resulting beans are worth it, as you don't have to chew the rubbery green coatings.






Broad beans
Green beans
Tomatoes
Garlic
Olive oil

Salmon fillets
Olive oil

Butter
Shallot
Dill
Dijon mustard
Juice of half a lemon
Flour
Natural yogurt

Olive oil
Shallot
Rice
Stock

1.  Prep the broad beans by podding and peeling grey layer.  Chop green beans and finely chop tomatoes.  Sautee gently in olive oil, with A LOT of crushed garlic.  Add a little water/stock and simmer, with a lid on for about 30 minutes.
2.  Drizzle salmon fillets with olive oil, cover with foil and roast for about 20 minutes.
3.  Melt a good bit of butter, and add very finely chopped shallot.
4.  Start the pilau, sautee finely chopped shallot in olive oil.  Add rice, turn in the oil until every grain is coated with a film of oil, then fry a little longer until the rice starts to cook slightly.  Now add flavourful stock, stir in, turn the heat right down and put the lid on.  Should be ready in 15 minutes.  Turn the heat off and let it just sit there and keep warm in the steam.
5.  Finish the sauce by adding dill, a teaspoon of dijon mustard and a spoonful of flour.  Whisk in lemon juice.  It might look a bit split but just keeping whisking.  Just before you are ready to serve stir in natural yoghurt, keep it on a very low heat.
6.  Serve, scoff ... it was delicious.

Pork 'n beans: Cowboy Stew

Onions
garlic
Olive oil
Cumin
Chilli flakes
Pork loin steaks
Red pepper
Green beans
Tomatoes
American mustard
Stock
Kidney beans
Chopped tomatoes (tin)
Basmati rice

1.  Sautee chopped onions and crushed garlic in olive oil.
2.  Add chopped pork loin steaks, and stir around, add cumin seeds and chilli flakes. 
3.  When the pork starts to brown a little round the edges, add chopped pepper, beans and tomatoes.
4.  When the veg have softened slightly add a good dollop of american mustard (the sweet hotdog sort is best).
5.  Add stock, from a cube in our case, and a tin of drained and rinsed kidney beans.
6.  Simmer for a good 20 minutes.  Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper.
7.  Put rice on - I use the adsorption method - rice in the pan, cover with cold water to an inch above the level of the rice, bring to the boil.  As soon as it boils turn the heat right down and slam the lid on.
8.  Simmer again (putting the tinned tomatoes and salt in later reduces the toughening up of the skins of the kidney beans).  Stir occasionally to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan, check that it doesn't get too dry, add a little water if it is.
9.  Serve, scoff, seconds ....

Thai red chicken curry

OK, I "cheated", I used a curry paste - but everything else was from scratch.  Using up vegetables in the bottom of the fridge, it was a bit of a change.

Peanut oil
Diced chicken
Onion
Garlic
Thai curry paste (red)
carrots
broccoli
green beans
coconut milk
pak choi
fish sauce
beansprouts

Jasmine rice

1.  In a wok, fry diced chicken in peanut oil, add chopped onions and cook for a few minutes.
2.  When chicken is nearly cooked add a spoonful of curry paste and crushed garlic, stir around.
3.  Add a little water and let the chicken cook through a little.
4.  Put the rice on - absorption method - rice in pan, cold water to 1 inch above the rice, bring to the boil - slam the lid on, turn the heat right down.  Ignore.
4.  Chop carrots, broccoli stems, green beans, and the chopped white end of the pak choi and add into the mixture.
5.  Add a tin of coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes.
6.  Splash in fish sauce, add green ends of pak choi, tiny broccoli florets and beansprouts.  Stir.
7.  Serve, scoff