Sausage and tomato casserole and a warning.

I've been updating a lot of my pages on this blog recently, including an in progress recipes index. Just click on the 'recipes' tab at the top of the page to go there, it will be gradually added to in the coming days.

This post is in response to Neil's plea for something comforting but healthy for dinner last night. A sausage casserole always seems to please him. Sausages and mash, of course, is very comforting, especially when smothered in onion gravy. Toad in the hole, something I've never actually made, is a dish of sausages contained in batter, a bit like a huge Yorkshire pudding, served with gravy and vegetables. This casserole has the vegetables and potatoes incorporated into the sauce, so it's essentially a one pot meal, although I did make some cabbage fried with butter to emanate the sauerkraut that may be served with this in Germany.

 

I bought two type of sausages for this dish, one of which was labelled 'British bangers'. Thicker than other type of sausages, they have a taste that is very familiar to a Brit. We also have a specific burger taste, very different and inferior to the North American juicy, chunky burgers. They usually come frozen and are thin and a bit cardboardy when overcooked, but the taste of home can be difficult to beat. The other sausage was pork with peppers and leeks, which I thought would add some variety.

The sauce base of peppers, red onion, celery, mushrooms and tomatoes looked pretty. A colourful blanket for the brown sausages. (Oh dear, I'm struggling a bit with this one).

Sausage manufacturers should take notice of this next bit: These thick bangers caused a fire. Under the grill (broiler), I could see the juices begin to bubble up under the skin and was contemplating moving them when the inevitable happened: they burst, shooting the juice upwards onto the element above which promptly caught on fire and began to shoot flames out of the oven for at least 30 seconds. Panicked, I had no clue what to do, eventually turning off the grill and narrowly avoiding the flames. Eventually the fire subsided but the apartment smelled like paraffin for several hours. Neil later commented that closing the grill door and suffocating the fire would have been the best option. I removed the sausages and fried them instead, but be warned, prick your sausages if they are very thick and don't grill them too close to the element.

I like to split the sausages in half and grill them (or fry in this case) cut side down to really crisp and caramelize. Plus, there's nothing worse than pink, undercooked sausages. 

Some fried cabbage, slightly toasted and brown at the edges seemed a nice accompaniment for the casserole. Smothered with some melted butter and lots of salt and pepper, it really comes alive, although I could have added some sliced apricots or lightly toasted almonds to give it an extra oomph.

Recipe : Sausage and tomato casserole

5 sausages

1 red onion, diced

1 stick celery, sliced 

1 clove garlic, peeled and diced finely

2 small bell peppers, seeded and diced

1/2 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and diced

1 tsp oil and 1 tsp butter

1 tin plum tomatoes

1 bay leaf

a few leaves of fresh sage and basil (optional)

1 sprig rosemary (optional)

1 tsp beef stock concentrate or 1/4 cup beef stock

1 tsp Marmite (optional)

6 mushrooms, quartered

5 very small potatoes

1/2 tsp chili powder

salt and pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a pan over medium heat and add the onion, celery, garlic, apple and peppers. Cover the pan and let the vegetables sweat for about 15 minutes to soften and sweeten. 

Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, rosemary, beef stock, Marmite and mushrooms and bring to the boil. 

Cover and simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes. 

Meanwhile, fry or (carefully) broil your sausages until brown. If you like, you can split them down the middle and fry or broil the insides to get an extra crispy and sticky texture.

Add the sausages to the casserole along with the sage, basil, potatoes and chili powder. Stir well, cover and cook until the potatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper and thicken slightly by boiling rapidly, uncovered, for a few moments, remembering to stir well constantly to avoid sticking. 

Serve with some bread for the juices.