Sausage, Vegetable & Gravy Bake

 

Just because we are on lockdown and unable to get out doesn't mean that our meals have to be boring.  I do have limited fresh vegetables at the moment, consisting mainly of potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and carrots.  That is all about to change on Friday however!  Yay!

 

Yes, with some diligence and determination I was finally able to get in touch with someone from our city indoor market who is making deliveries, and at a fair price.  On Friday afternoon I will have cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi, apples, oranges and a few other bits. I am so very grateful for that. And they will deliver it all right to my door and leave it on the step.

 

In the meantime I was able to make Todd and I a sausage and vegetable bake today, using what I do have at the moment.  It was delicious.

 

It is perfectly sized for two people, but you can very easily double the amounts to serve more.  There are potatoes, sweet potato, carrots and onion, plus two meaty sausages a piece, and a very tasty gravy, which does not use salty gravy powder.  All natural ingredients.

 

My thyme is growing in the garden at the moment. I do wish I had some parsley, but oh well . . . we will live without it.  I wish parsley was one of the herbs that comes back every year like thyme and oregano.

 

Rosemary and sage . . .  but no parsley doesn't and neither does basil.

 

Back to the bake.  This is so simple and easy to do.  You just cut up your vegetables and put them in a baking dish. I used my trusty 7 by 10 inch dish, which is the perfect size.

  

A simple gravy mix is created and then poured in beneath the vegetables.  Its actually probably easier if you put the gravy mix in first and then the vegetables.

 

The sausages are laid on top and then the whole thing just gets baked in a hot oven.  I baked it for half an hour, flipped the sausages over and baked for a further hour.  Easy peasy.

 

The gravy thickens up nicely in that time.  There is no muss or fuss  . . .  no frying involved.

  

This is a meal that basically cooks itself. You really can't get much better than that!

Sausage Vegetable & Gravy Bake

Yield: 2

Author: Marie Rayner

This is a simple all in one oven bake, built for two that produces perfectly cooked sausages, vegetables and a tasty gravy!

Ingredients:

For the Vegetables:

• 3 medium potatoes, unpeeled and cut into chunks
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into batons
• 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• salt and black pepper to taste

For the gravy:

• 1 TBS butter, melted
• 1 1/2 TBS plain flour
• 240ml chicken or beef stock (1 cup)

You will also need:

• 4 thick herby sausages

Instructions:

How to cook Sausage Vegetable & Gravy Bake

1. Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Have ready a baking dish deep enough to hold the vegetables and sausage. My 7 by 10 inch dish is the perfect size.
2. Whisk together all of the ingredients for the gravy. Pour this into the baking dish.
3. Toss the prepared vegetables in a bowl together with the oil, herbs, garlic and some seasoning. Pour them into the baking dish with the gravy. You will have lots peeking over top. This is perfect as they will caramelise a bit. Top with the sausages.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes. Flip the sausages over and return to the oven and bake for a further half an hour at which time the vegetables should be cooked through and the sausages will be golden brown and cooked through.
5. Divide the vegetables and sausages between two plates and spoon some gravy over top of each.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

If you don't have sausages, I am sure you could use chicken pieces in much the same way.  They would also be very good. How are you all getting along?  Our weather has been beautiful these last few days so its not been too bad.  We've been able to sit out of doors and enjoy the sunshine and today I even saw butterflies.  Spring is definitely here. 

Read more

Roasted Sausage & Potato Supper

 

I had taken some sausages out of the freezer to cook for our supper last night, thinking I was going to cook them with some onions, apples and apple juice, only to discover today that I had no apple juice. I really should have checked before I took the sausages out . . .

  

I have had this Mary Berry Cookbook, called Mary Berry Absolute Favourites, based on the television series of the same name, and I am ashamed to say I haven't used it.

 

I just love Mary Berry, don't you?  I really miss seeing her on the GBBO. To me, its just not the same without her.  I love all of her television shows as well. She seems like a genuinely nice person.  This book contains over 100 brand new, simple and satisfying recipes from one of her latest cooking series, and I really have no excuse for not having used it before, as the recipes in it all seem sound and quite delicious!

 

I was drawn to the bright colours of this dish!   I also liked that I was easily able to cut it in half to just feed two people.

 

I hate wasting food, and so I tend to freeze my sausages in 6 sausage lots, and I had only taken one lot out.

  

I buy my sausages at Costco. They are just lovely. I usually get a mix of Italian and Cumberland, and then break them down and freeze them in lots. 

 

Her original recipe called for baby new potatoes, cut in half.  I did not have baby new potatoes, so I used medium white potatoes, skin left on and cut into quarters.

 

I used dry thyme, and reserved some fresh thyme leaves for garnishing the finished dish.

 

When you peel your onion, make sure you leave the root end as intact as you can, so that when you cut it into sixths the wedges don't break apart and they stay whole while roasting.

 

I think a mix of red and yellow peppers would also be very nice, and pretty colourful, as would red onion.

 

If you line your baking tray with aluminium foil, there won't be any pan to wash up either.  Perfect for these busy days we are in the middle of.

 

You do need a bit of white wine, but if you don't have it, I think either white grape juice or apple juice would also work very well in its place.

  

It helps to keep the sausages from drying out and they become almost sticky.  We enjoyed this with dollops of grainy mustard on the side.  I had thought to do a salad, but then forgot.  In all truth we were both very satisfied with just this!

Roasted Sausage & Potato Supper

Yield: 2

Author: Marie Rayner

A delicious recipe adapted from Mary Berry perfectly sized for two.  Quick and easy also. You can add an extra vegetable on the side, but this is surprisingly filling.

ingredients:

• 6 thick pork sausages (I like Cumberland)
• 1 medium red bell pepper, trimmed, seeded, cut into chunks
• 2 medium potatoes, washed, dried and cut into quarters
• 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into sixths
• 1 TBS olive oil
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
• 100ml white wine ( 3.5 fluid ounces)
• fresh thyme leaves to garnish if desired
• grainy mustard to serve

instructions:

How to cook Roasted Sausage & Potato Supper

1. Preheat the oven to 220*/425*F/ gas mark 7.   Have ready a baking tray with sides,  large enough to hold everything in a single layer.
2. Put the sausages, potatoes, onions, and red pepper chunks into a bowl and toss together with some salt, pepper and the dried thyme leaves.  Mix together with your hands and then spread out onto the baking tray, making sure that nothing is piled on top of the other.
3. Roast in the preheated oven for 1/2 hour. Remove from the oven. flip over the sausages.  Pour the wine around them in the baking tray.  Return to the oven and roast for a further 15 to 20 minutes.  The pork juices should run clear and the vegetables should be tender. 
4. Transfer to a heated serving dish, garnish with some fresh thyme leaves and serve with some grainy mustard.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

I hope you will give this a go and that you enjoy it!  Next time I might roast some sweet potatoes and carrots in place of the peppers, and use red onions! I can't believe it is already Thursday!  Can YOU?  This month is already whizzing by!

Read more

Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips

Sometimes I like to treat Todd to a pub fare meal on a weeknight.  Pubs here in the UK are somewhat similar to Diners in North America, in that they usually serve nice comfy meals, home style. They also serve alcohol.  Some do the meal thing really well and others not so well. It is hit and  miss really.  Some just re-heat frozen food.

 

They offer a variety of things on the menu, but most will offer meat pies and chips, roast dinners, fish and chips, curries, etc. and most will also have Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips.  You will normally be asked if you want a ring of pineapple with it or peas.

 

A gammon steak is like a thick slice of uncooked ham or green ham. It can be smoked or unsmoked, and, unlike ham you MUST cook it before you eat it, like bacon in a way, but quite different in flavour and consistency.  It comes from the leg of a pig whereas bacon comes from the belly.

 

Todd will sometimes order the Gammon, Egg & Chips, but I have always found it quite disappointing myself. Hardly worth the money paid.

 

Today I decided to make him a Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips dinner from scratch, here at home that he could really enjoy.

 

I did use oven chips, but I used really good ones, thick steak cut, gastro style chips . . .  you could of course fry them from scratch if you wanted to but these are actually quite good and in all truth that's all you get in most pubs anyways, deep fried frozen chips.

 

When we are eating eggs like this, I always like to use the freshest free range eggs that I can get. With brilliant yellow yolks, they taste so good when simply fried in butter. 

 

I like to get the butter foaming and crack in the eggs, and then I cook them slowly, basting them with the fat in the pan until the edges are crisp and golden, but the yolks still a bit wobbly . . .

 

The gammon is also fried. I rub it with some dry mustard powder first for a bit of spice.  I fry it in a bit of olive oil until crisp and caramelised on the edges and cooked through.

 

I added oven roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine that I cooked at the same time as the chips.  Perfect!

 

I drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and scattered them with some sea salt and cracked black pepper before roasting.  So tasty!

 

We had frozen petite pois with ours.  Simply cooked in the microwave. 2 minutes on high, in a small covered container does the trick. I never add any water.

All in all this was most delicious.   Todd enjoyed his along with a slice of buttered bread on the side.

Yield: 2

Author: Marie Rayner

Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips

Pub Fare on a weeknight for a simple supper.

ingredients:

• 1 thick sliced gammon steak, cut in half crosswise
• some olive oil
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
• 1 spring of cherry tomatoes on the vine
• 2 portions of frozen gourmet style oven chips
• knob of butter
• 2 large free range eggs
• 2 portions of frozen peas

instructions:

How to cook Gammon Steak, Egg & Chips

1. Preheat the oven according to your package directions for the chips. Place them onto a baking sheet. Place the tomatoes on the same baking sheet, drizzling with some olive oil and sprinkling with salt and pepper. Cook according to the package directions.
2. Clip the fatty edge of the gammon steak. Cut in half and rub it all over with the dry mustard powder and black pepper. Heat a bit of oil in a large non-stick skillet. Add the gammon steak pieces and cook on the first side until golden brown and caramelised on the edges, flip over and do the same on the other sides. Remove from the skillet and keep warm.
3. Wipe out the pan. Add the knob of butter and heat the pan until the butter begins to foam. Crack in the eggs. Cook basting them occasionally with some of the butter from the pan with a spoon, until your eggs are to your desired doneness. Remove and keep warm.
4. Cook the peas in a container in the microwave for about 2 minutes until done.
5. Divide the chips between two heated plates along with the tomatoes, place a half gammon steak on each plate and top with a fried egg. Add a portion of the peas to each and serve immediately.

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

A simple supper like this makes a really nice mid-week meal every now and then.  Its easy to make and quite delicious. Todd was really pleased with it, and in truth so was I.  I hope you will give it a go and picture yourself sitting back in the corner in a pub here in the UK, but a good one, one that serves tasty homemade from scratch food. Those are my favourite kinds!

Read more

Stilton Steaks with Sweet Potato & Garlic Mash

 

So today is my birthday and I wanted to enjoy one of my favourite foods.  Steak.  I could quite happily be a vegetarian, except for the fact that every now and then I enjoy eating a good steak.  

 

When I was a much younger woman, in another lifetime, I used to love being treated to a meal out at Ponderosa or Bonanza, both chain steak houses in North America. You could get a decent steak cooked to your idea perfection . . . 

 

Along with your favourite sides, be they fat steak cut chips, or baked potatoes, fried onions, grilled mushrooms, onion rings  . . .  there was also a salad bar that came free with every meal.

 

The salad bars were crazy delicious.  The trick was to NOT fill up on the salad bar before you got your meal!

 

At that time I would have shuddered at the thought of eating Stilton cheese, let alone enjoying it melted on top of a juicy steak.  Boy oh boy  . . .

 

I was missing out on a delicious piece of steak heaven!  This is fabulous and what I choose to enjoy on my 64th Birthday this year!

 

A tender sirloin steak . . .  seasoned with a tasty steak seasoning rub (my friend Lura sends me it from America) and grilled to perfection . . .  then topped with some crumbled Stilton cheese, which melts and gilds the top . . . .

 

Pure taste perfection  . . .

 

Next to that a fluffy pile of mashed sweet and white potatoes, flavoured with cream and butter and garlic  . . .  don't judge me . . .  lol . . .

 

The sweet potato makes this mash slightly better for this diabetic than a mash that would have been just white potatoes . . .  but there is so much flavour in that that I will be happy with only a small amount.

 

Again, flavour perfection . . .

 

On the side Frenched runner beans, fresh from the garden . . . love them too . . .

  

Altogether this is a beautiful birthday meal.  Nummity Nummity! 

Stilton Steaks with Sweet Potato & Garlic Mash

Yield: 4

Author: Marie Rayner

This dish is all about delicious.  From tender perfectly cooked steaks with  that melted Stilton on top to the lush sweet potato mash, it is a winner all round!

ingredients:

For the potatoes:

• 1 1/2 pounds floury potatoes, for mashing, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/3 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 to 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
• knob of butter
• 60ml cream (1/4 cup)
• salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

For the Steaks:

• steak seasoning
• 4 sirloin steaks, each about 1/2 inch thick and weighing 225g/7 ounces
• 70g Stilton cheese (2 1/2 ounces)
• Chopped fresh parsley and thyme to garnish

instructions:

How to cook Stilton Steaks with Sweet Potato & Garlic Mash

1. First make the mash. Place the white and sweet potatoes and garlic into a saucepan of lightly salted water to cover. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are fork tender.  Drain well and then return the pan and shake over the residual heat of the burner to dry them out a bit.  Mash well with a potato masher, adding in the cream and knob of butter.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.  Cover and keep warm while you cook the steaks.
2. To cook the steaks, season them well on both sides with your steak seasoning. Preheat the grill to high.  Cook the steaks under the hot grill for 8 to 10 minutes, turning them over halfway through the cook time, according to your preference. (We like our steaks medium rare and so opt for the shorter time.)  A minute or so before they are done, crumble the Stilton cheese over top and pop back under the grill at which time the steaks should be done perfectly and the cheese melted. Sprinkle with the chopped herbs and serve immediately along with the hot mash.

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

OH boy, but this is some good.  A new favourite combination.  I hope it will be for you as well!

Up tomorrow:  Chicken Schnitzels 

 Yay!!  

Read more