Sausage casserole with cheesy dumplings

 

Oh my word.  It's been a few days of cold rain and biting winds.  And, we have no potatoes ... so today - sausage casserole with cheesy dumplings!  Gorgeously comforting - but it gets some veg into the veg dodger too.

olive oil

red onion

garlic

Sausages

Carrots

Swede

Stock

Butter beans

Tin of tomatoes

SR flour

Butter

paprika

mixed herbs

baking powder

Cheese

Yogurt

1.  Chop red onion in slices, sautee in olive oil.

2.  Add sausages and brown on most sides (ie... keep moving them around to get a bit of colour, but don't get neurotic, there is plenty of time for them to cook.)

3.  Peel carrots and swede, chop into bit sized pieces and chuck into the pot.  Add crushed garlic.

4.  Add about a pint of stock and simmer for a few minutes.

5.  Add butter beans, a tin of tomatoes and some water, keep simmering.

6.  Let it simmer for an hour - add more water/stock if it's getting dry.

7.  Make the dumplings.  Rub butter into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs, sprinkle on a teaspoon of baking powder to help the dumplings lift.  Season and add mixed herbs and a good pinch of paprika.

8.    When the casserole is 20 minutes from finished shape the dumplings by adding the grated cheese and a spoonful of yogurt - flour your hands and roll the mix into balls and drop onto the top of the casserole.

9.  Simmer for 20 more minutes.

10.  Serve, scoff

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!)

Sausage paella

 Maybe I should have called it a very British paella.  It's the night before the new veg box, so it's very much - use what you have, it'll still be tasty, dinner.

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Carrots
Sausages
Red pepper
Green beans
Paella rice
stock
wholegrain mustard
Kale


1.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil.  Add finely chopped carrot and fry gently for a few minutes.
2.  Add sausages and turn a few times, until they start colouring.
3.  Add chopped red pepper and green beans, stir in.
4.  Add paella rice, stir everything around until every grain of rice has a bit of a coating, then pour in stock, and a spoonful of wholegrain mustard.
5.  Simmer, check stock level, adding more if it goes too dry.  When the rice is nearly cooked add finely chopped kale, put the lid on and let it steam.
6.  Stir in the wilted kale, let it rest for 5 minutes.
7.  Serve, scoff

Veg dodger 2 "complained" about kale - grown by the devil, or something - but ate it nonetheless.

Sausage, mash and roman cauliflower

Shopping seasonally and locally, add a few herbs and ta da …

Sausages from Stansfield's, veg from Kevin on the outside market, herbs, stock, garlic and olive oil from The Mediterranean Pantry.  Jobs a good 'un.

Sausages
King Edwards potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Cauliflower
Courgette
Cherry tomatoes
veg stock
oregano
butter
Frozen peas

1.  Put the sausages in a medium oven.
2.  Peel and chop the potatoes for the mash, boil until done.
3.  Sautee 2 batches of onions - 1 by themselves, and 1 for the Roman Cauliflower.
4.  To the onions for the cauliflower add crushed garlic, chopped courgette, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower broken into florets, a mug of vegetable stock and a good pinch of oregano.  Simmer until cooked, cover if necessary.
5.  Mash the potatoes with lots of butter.
6.  Add the frozen peas to the cauliflower.
7.  Serve, scoff .. delish

Sausage and mash

Sausage and mash is excellent almost any day - but I made a really nice onion and mustard gravy which turned this into a real treat.

Potatoes
Sausages - these were pork and apple
Olive oil
Butter
Red onion
Garlic
Flour
Vegetable stock
Grainy mustard
Baked beans
Cabbage


1.  Prick the sausages with a fork and bung in the oven in an oven dish.  I add the tiniest splash of olive oil, roll them round in it - just to stop any initial sticking.
2.  Peel potatoes, boil for 15 minutes - until softish to a sharp knife.  Mash with butter and put into another oven dish - bake for 20 minutes, until the top goes golden brown.
3.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil until soft, add a tablespoon of flour and stir in until it becomes a paste.  Add stock and simmer, add a spoonful of grainy mustard, simmer again.  The gravy will thicken.
4.  Heat beans.
5. Steam shredded cabbage.
6.  Serve, scoff .... delicious

Sausage and mash, with braised red cabbage

You can't beat sausage and mash, particularly when it's cold and drizzly outside.  Lots of choice of sausages available in Todmorden Indoor market - these are your classic pork sausage - but lot's more available from the three excellent butchers - Bracewell's, Stanfield's and Fielden's.

Also, extras like butter from The Crumbly Cheese, tomato puree and wholegrain mustard from The Mediterranean Pantry, and veggies from Todmorden fruit and veg outside.

There were also veggie sausages fro the veggie.

Red cabbage
Olive oil
Clementine
Chilli flakes
Potatoes
Butter
Sausages
Onions
Tomato puree
Wholegrain mustard
Vegetable stock

1.  Shred cabbage and braise in a little olive oil and a cup of water - I added some clementine juice and a pinch of chili flakes.  Simmer gently, adding more liquid when it looks a bit dry.
2.  Peel potatoes and put onto boil for the mash.
3.  Prick the sausages with a fork and put in the oven for 15 minutes - then turn them.
4.  Make the onion gravy - sautee chopped onion in olive oil until soft, squirt in some tomato puree, add a teaspoon of grainy mustard and a cup of water, simmer.  You might want to add more water/vegetable stock to keep the correct consistency.
5.  Mash potatoes with butter - you could put them in the oven to crisp up.
6.  Serve, scoff

National sausage week: bangers and mash

Starting National Sausage week with the classic - bangers and mash, with an onion gravy, peas and steamed cabbage.  Fabulous.

There are many varieties of sausage available from Todmorden market, so I will be ringing the changes through the week.

Potatoes
Sausages - classic pork today
Onion
Olive oil
Tomato puree
Stock
Butter
Cabbage (green and cavolo nero today)
frozen peas
Butter

1.  Peel potatoes and boil.
2.  Bung sausages in a medium oven.
3.  Chop onion, sautee in olive oil until soft, add tomato puree and stock and simmer.
4.  Mash potatoes with butter, put in the oven to brown the top.
5.  Steam shredded cabbage, and cook the peas.
6.  Put the sausages into the gravy.
7. Serve, scoff, have seconds.

I made a veggie version too, all the same - but obviously 2 lots of gravy.

Wild boar sausages in red wine

When the end of July feels like the middle of October there's nothing for it but a huge tasty sausage casserole.  Ringing the changes I used smoked pancetta and wild boar sausages.  The sausages had a really firm. close texture and a deeply savoury flavour which was excellent with the red wine and mushroom sauce.  The veggie version was the same casserole, but made with Linda McCartney red onion sausages.  Yum.

I also made a nectarine and cranberry crumble, which went down well, but I forgot to take it's pic.

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Pancetta (onit for vegetarian)
Mushrooms
Wild boar sausages (replace with veggie sausages for vegetarian)
Red wine
Tin of tomatoes
Stock

Carrots
Broccoli
Green beans

New potatoes
Chives

1.  Sautee onion, add garlic and chopped pancetta.
2.  Add sausages and brown slightly on all sides.
3.  Chuck in chopped mushrooms, stir about for a bit.
4.  Add a glass of red wine and simmer the alcohol off.
5.  Add tomatoes and stock and simmer for at least 30 minutes - will keep in the oven for much longer.
6.  Meanwhile, wash and quarter new potatoes, boil.
7.  Prepare and steam vegetables.
8.  Drain potatoes, slosh on some olive oil, sprinkle on chopped chives and salt and pepper.
9.  Serve, scoff ...

Chapati sausage roll

I can't believe I haven't thought of this before!  I'm sure you have... but translate hotdog into something a bit lighter and homemade (but also quick).  3 ish portions...

2 onions
1 tbsp olive oil
6 sausages
1 tin of tomatoes
American mustard
Pea shoots - or shredded lettuce etc
4(ish) chapatis

1.  Fry sausages in olive oil, add sliced onion.
2.  Soften onions and cook sausages a bit, then add tin of chopped tomatoes and half a tin of water.
3.  Simmer until onions are soft, sausages are cooked through.
4.  Microwave chipatis for 45 seconds (ish)
5.  Well - obviously - put chapati on plate, put sausage and good spoonful of onion and tomato mixture on top, season, add mustard and green stuff.  Roll up.
6. Scoff

Tuscan sausage and black bean casserole

 Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain .....

So time for something i) warm and comforting, and ii) out of the cupboards.

Had some Tuscan sausages in the fridge, so this seemed to fit the bill.  And, it did!

So....

1 onion
tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
tbsp mixed herbs
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 carrot
1 pack Tuscan sausages
1 red pepper
1 squash
several mushrooms
left over green beans
2 tins tomatoes
glass of white wine
black beans (tin/box - pre-cooked)

Recipe (if you can call it that)

1.  Chop and soften onion in olive oil.
2.  Cut sausages into bite sized pieces and add to softened onion.  Allow to fry, turning occasionally for about 5 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile peel carrot, chop other veg.
4.  When sausage has started to "catch" very slightly, chuck in garlic, herbs, chili and all veg and stir round.
5.  After a couple of minutes chuck in glass of white wine, stir to pick up sticky bits from the bottom of the pan.
6.  Simmer, add tins of tomatoes and water (about a tin and a half's worth).  Bring to simmer, season.
7.  Simmer for about 20-30 mins - don't let it go dry.
8.  Add beans, heat through
9.  Scoff (with brown rice and a spoonful of yogurt in my case)

Sausage paella

Beautiful sunny Sunday, which got a bit windy towards teatime - could have been Spain, not Cheshire.  So, what with bargain sausages in the fridge and veg left in the veg box - we settled on paella for dinner.  Made shed loads, so outlaws took some home for the freezer and the dogs had a treat.

The bargain sausages - were infact bargain pork meatballs, but they looked too big for a mouthful, so I split them in 2 and made 24 smaller meatballs from them.  Had they been actual sausages I would have taken them out of their skins and rolled them into small meatballs.

Serves: 8, Calories per portion: approx 250  Price:  Approx:  70p

1 tbsp olive oil
50g chorizo
1 leek
400g sausages/ meatballs
1 garlic clove
pinch of chili flakes
150g (ish) rice
pinch of mixed herbs
1 courgette
1 red pepper
200g green beans
200g mushrooms
2 tins of tomatoes
2 pints of chicken stock, with a pinch of saffron if any is available

1. Chop chorizo into small dice.  Roll sausage meat into small balls.
2. Fry chorizo in small splash of olive oil, until it starts releasing its coloured oil, and crisping a bit around the edges.
3. In a separate pan fry sausages balls in another splash of olive oil, just to get them firm and get a bit of colour on them.  Remove from the pan and keep them to add in later.
4.  Add chopped leek to the chorizo, and stir around until a little bit soft.
5.  Add rice to chorizo and leek and stir until every grain is coated.
6.  Chuck in chopped veg, garlic and chili.  Stir in stock and tomatoes.
7. Simmer.  Add sausage balls - simmer again.  Try not to stir too often.
8.  When veg is soft leave to stand for a few minutes - scoff.

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.

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?

bangers, roast veg and couscous

Whadya want? cordon bleu every day?  Bunged sausages in oven, chopped up veg tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and garlic - bunged them in oven as well, made couscous to packet instructions - stirred in chopped parsley.  It wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't horrid.  Victim, obv.. wanted more sausages and less veg and couscous.

You couldn't call it paella

But ricey stuff with polish sausage isn't much of a title either.  Or gloop, which was victim's suggestion.  Victim was less than impressed with dinner, and later requested tuna salad sandwiches.... tssk - but it wasn't half bad - she just has an unreasonable objection to smokey paprika flavours - and the combination of smokey Polish sausage and added paprika and saffron was too much for her taste.  Also gloop does not do justice to the loving attention to detail entailed in removing green borad beans from their grey jackets!  Anyway, usual start fried chopped onions and crushed garlic with celery until soft.  Added chopped mushrooms, artichoke hearts and sliced sausage.  Stirred in handful of paella rice, chicken stock and some paprika and a pinch of saffron with a grind of black pepper.  Added tin of chopped tomatoes and left to simmer happily away for about 15-18 minutes.  Meanwhile boiled broad beans for a couple of minutes, then drained and removed the little buggers from their jackets.  Stirred the beans into the ricey mixture and glooped into a bowl.  Jobs a good 'un.

Italian sausage casserole

Tomato and basil Italian sausages from Waitrose... so wanted to do something a bit more interesting with them.  Sliced onions and celery, softened off in a little olive oil and added garlic.  Browned off the sausages (could have done this a bit more, seems to have "washed off").  Added veg - red pepper, mushrooms, green beans and butter beans, stock cube, herbs, new potatoes and a tin of chopped tomatoes - in the oven - ignore for a hour.  Easy and delicious - some taken for outlaws today.


 Egg news - 1 yesterday - Sophie and Rosemary still resolutely broody.  Jack (cat) seems to have gone missing - I hope he's just gone for a wander and will be back soon.