Sausage casserole

Sausage casserole, in July?  Yes, because of the grim weather this sort of autumnal dinner was required.  Fry sausages with onion and garlic, add celery, red pepper, mushrooms, and because there was some in the fridge sweet potato.  Sautee for a bit until veg is a little soft, but not cooked add tin of chopped tomatoes, splash of hot sauce and a pint of stock.  Add chopped beans (or other green stuff) and chuck in the over for about 40 minutes. Served with brown rice.  Victim scoffed it but didn't say much.  However, chopped up, mixed with the rice and served to additional victims who had suffered car trouble and many hours on the motorway as "gunge" at 11:30pm it was very favourably received.

Spaghetti bolognaise

Well, despite my warning - if you have spaggy bog now - I won't be making it again until March - victim was insistent - so spag bog it was.  And I have to say ... mmmmm mmmm mmmm.  Sauteed chopped leek, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 3 inches of celery, peeled and chopped carrot and 500g minced steak.... then added mixed herbs, chopped red pepper and 2 chopped, big field mushrooms.  Stir, simmer, stir etc  - added chicken stock cube, 2 x tins chopped tomatoes, big squirt of hot dog mustard, tomato ketchup and some worcestershire sauce.  Simmer, season, taste , season. Serve on spaghetti - grate on parmesan.  Scoff.  Mixed feelings ... yum yum yum - comfort food at its best ... bugger... there's the favourite gone for the rest of the month.  (Victim has already made suggestions eg.  if you don't add carrot it'll be a different dish .. to squeeze in another version - will try to avoid.)

Sausage casserole in giant yorkshire pudding

Victim number one - as cherished as she might be - does have a habit of ambushing recipes at the last minute.  Today is a case in point.  We had lovely italian herbed sausages in the freezer and shed loads of organic veg in the fridge.  Being Sunday, we were also due to feed the outlaws one of their few healthy meals of the week.  So - my plot - hearty sausage casserole with brown rice and cabbage.  (Sautee twice as many chopped/ sliced onions as you think reasonable, add crushed garlic, add sauages and move around until they have some colour - add chopped root (and other hardish) veg (celeriac, swede, some carrots - butternut squash), stock cube, tin of tomatoes, half a pint of water (ish) simmer)... cook rice, steam cabbage... delish.  But, I was interrupted by primary victim hankering for yorkshire puddings - ideally, start this about 40 minutes before you intend to serve. ... I managed to (amazingly), and I have to say it was an improvement on the intended brown rice - though probably nutritionally compromised! Recipe was from Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat" (referred to here ny her own people http://www.nigella.com/kitchen-queries/view/701).   Back to nutritionally compromised... - when I added up starter to pudding - victims had 13 of their 5 a day... so that can't be bad.  (Just for clarification - this wasn't the most impressive pud - (the best was round and very cloud like) but the gathered victims were too intent on tucking in for a photo shoot).

Now what do I do with all that extra brown rice?