Category: sausages

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food mustard pasta sausages

sausage and mustard rigatoni

sausage and mustard rigatoni

Nigel Slater. What a deity of food writing. No-one can conjure more poignant or vivid portraits of cooking that can transport you to the moment of being mid-mouthful. He has pretty much sewn up the childhood nostalgia food writing market, and we love him for it. I have a couple of his books and they are invaluable. I don’t often cook directly from them, but I use them sometimes just for the joy of reading about food, or to jumpstart my cooking brain when I have reached a culinary dead-end.

When I heard Nigel had a new TV show, Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers, I was overjoyed. Essentially it’s a combination of home-grown veg with his usual disdain for actual recipes and finding harmony between the two. The show itself was a touch disappointing, not quite sparking that Nigel fire. It’s not up to the glorious gratuitous gluttony of Real Food, which is an absolute treat.

There’s still some goodness to be had though, such as the following recipe for sausages and mustard. I substituted double cream for creme fraiche as I had some knocking about, and partnered it with some broccoli to round it out. An absurdly simple dish but I love that sort of thing, so that each is singing in harmony. It’s meaty, potent and creamy, and oh-so-perfect for evenings with a nip in the air. Next time I fancy this might contain mushrooms to lend and earthiness to the dish. Cheers Nigel!

Sausage and mustard rigatoni:

2 onions, sliced

6 sausages, meat squeezed from the skins into little balls

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard

3 tablespoons creme fraiche

Couple of handfuls pasta (I used rigatoni)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

  1. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
  2. Fry the onions in a large pan. Cover them and cook for ten minutes until softened.
  3. Add the sausage and fry until slightly brown.
  4. Add the mustards, cook for a minute then add the creme fraiche. You may need some water from the pasta to slacken it down a touch.
  5. Add the pasta and parsley, then stir together.

The original recipe can be found here.

Categories
food sausages tomato

sausage ragu

One of the joys of modern life, where unfortunately the pressures of today allows no time for proper food shopping, is the home delivery. I’ve only recently tried Sainsbury’s home delivery, which has wonderful customer service, though leaves a number of t’s uncrossed. After a recent drop-off we realised we had been left two packs of sausages we’d not ordered. Not a problem in itself but I had meals planned out for the rest of the week, and as the Best Before date loomed I felt I had to do something with the poor porkers. I opted for a multi-pupose ragu.

I started by squeezing the sausages out of their skins into meatbally lumps. I then browned them all over in a hot pan with crushed fennel seeds and black pepper, for tone and bite. Then I removed them to one side while I adding sliced garlic and two tins of tomatoes. After warming up the meat went back in and I allowed to bubble away for a while before seasoning with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar.

I ate a small bowl of it for a quick supper, while the rest went into the freezer for a future emergnecy meal.

Sausage ragu:

16 sausages

1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds

1 teaspoon crushed black pepper

2 cloves garlic, sliced

2 tins tomatoes

balsamic vinegar, as desired

  1. Halve the sausages, then squeeze them out of their skins to make thumb-dized meatballs.
  2. Roll the meatballs in the fennel and pepper, and fry in a hot pan until browned all over.
  3. Remove from the pan and add the garlic. Fry a minute and then add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
  4. Add the sausages and simmer for 20 minutes.
  5. Taste for seasoning, adding vinegar if required.
Categories
broccoli food mozzarella pastry sausages tomato

sausage and broccoli tart

This wonderful little creation is a result of a supplement from olive magazine, courtesy of cathyella’s generous subscription present 🙂

There are a number of elements to it, all made separately and then brought together on the tart. Purple sprouting broccoli is blanched for 2 mins and refreshed in cold water to arrest the cooking. Good quality Italian sausages are deskinned and torn into pieces, then fried in crushed fennel seeds until browned. And then a puff pastry square, ready made. I chucked on some cherry tomatoes (Tesco do an amazingly flavourful tin of them), some of the broccoli, some sausage pieces, then a little parmesan and torn-up mozzarella. After 15 or so minutes in the oven for the pastry to brown and rise, I topped it with basil and dressed with balsamic vinegar. Really tasty, and looked the part too.

Categories
broccoli cheese food sausages

macaroni cheese

Utterly unpretentious, and a standby for all American moms, the mac and che’ is immense pleasure in a pot.

For me I boil up some macaroni, then when it’s nearly cooked chuck in broccoli florets and chopped hot dogs for a couple of minutes, so they are all tender at the same time.

Whilst this bubbles away I knock together a roux-based white sauce. That’s butter and flour smooshed together and allowed to form a paste, then when pale add milk until smooth. A bay leaf, a spoonful of English mustard and salt and pepper are added to give some flavour, then cheese grated in until it tastes right.

Then I chuck it all in a pot and bake in an oven until bubbly and brown. Not very spring-like, but pure comfort food.

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