Sausage casserole

I made this a couple of evenings ago when it was a bit chilly. I used four giant sausages from Jack O’Shea’s, and they worked brilliantly. This is based on a BBC Good Food Hairy Bikers recipe.

Sausage and beans

For four people, you’ll need:

A little oil

4 of Jack O’Shea’s large sausages, or two or three normal sized ones per person (depending on how hungry or greedy you are)

1 medium sized onion, sliced into eighths.

A few garlic cloves, crushed

Some chilli or smoked paprika

A tin of tomatoes

A small tin of tomato puree

200ml of chicken stock

1 tablespoon of Worchester sauce

a little thyme

salt and pepper

A teaspoon of brown sugar

a tin of beans like cannellini or white beans, or if you’ve none of these, a tin of lentils

To serve: crusty bread or some mashed potatoes

In a heavy casserole dish, heat enough oil to coat the base. Your sausages will release some fat as they cook, so you only need enough to prevent them from sticking in the initial cooking. Cook your sausages for a few minutes on each side to colour them.

Take the sausages out and add a little more oil to the dish. Cook the onions over a medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until they soften slightly.  Add the crushed garlic and cook that off too.

Pop the sausages back in, along with a sprinkle of chilli or paprika, the tomatoes and the chicken stock.

Add in all the herbs and seasoning, stir well and cover. Leave it to simmer gently for 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of your sausages. Add the drained beans in about 10 minutes before the end of the cooking. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning, adding a stock cube, some chopped anchovies or more salt and pepper if you need to. If it is very thick, add a little more water.

Serve it with some mashed potatoes or bread.

If you’re uber hungry, you could also add a packet of lardons with the tomatoes.

Pork and fennel tray roast with lemon and coriander

I’ve made this three times now, and this is the first time I’ve been quick enough to get a photo before it’s devoured! It’s really simple, and the kind of dish you can pretty much prepare, pop in the oven and leave there while you potter around. From fridge to table, it takes an hour.

Roast pork and fennel with lemon and coriander

The recipe comes from the May 2012 edition of delicious magazine.

For four people:

2 large red-skinned potatoes cut into chunks (new potatoes are in, so I used 3-4 per person)

2 fennel bulbs, sliced into eights

3 red onions, quartered

Olive oil

2 pork fillets (I used 600g), trimmed and cut into 8

Paste

2 preserved lemons, rinsed and dried and cut into pieces

A dribble of olive oil

Garlic cloves (I love garlic, so I use lots)

Chili – whatever amount you like, either flakes, dried or fresh

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika

1 tablespoon of honey

chopped coriander

Heat your oven to 180°.

Put the potatoes and fennel into a pot of salted water, bring to the boil and boil for 2 minutes. Drain well and put into a roasting tin together with the onions and the olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.

While all that’s going on, either blitz all the paste ingredients in a blender or chop up finely and mix together (second option = less washing up). I always add a crumbled stock cube too, and of course a little salt and pepper.

Rub the paste all over the pork pieces and leave aside.

When your veg have hit the 20 minute mark in the oven, tumble the pork pieces on top and return the lot to the oven for another 20-25 minutes, until the pork is cooked through and the vegetables are soft.

As I’d some parsnips in the fridge this week I used these too. I just boiled them with the potatoes and fennel first. Yum.

Photos are en route (probably tonight).

Easter = chocolate

This weekend is Easter (yay!). We’ll be having the in-laws over and I’m going to make some brownies for dessert, although I fear my heart might seize up just making these from the MSF cookbook, via Domini Kemp in The Irish Times.

I’ll post photos if I survive. Happy Easter everyone!

300g dark chocolate (70 per cent)

400g butter

4 tsp vanilla extract

7 eggs

500g caster sugar

70g crème fraiche

160g flour

35g cocoa

Pinch salt

2 tsp instant coffee

A few tbsp granulated sugar

Preheat an oven to 160 degrees. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over simmering water. Whisk together the vanilla, eggs, sugar and crème fraiche, then add the melted butter and chocolate.

Sieve the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and fold them in. Do everything lightly. Pour the mixture into a lined tray. Sprinkle the granulated sugar lightly over the top.

Bake for about 30 minutes. They are done when a toothpick comes out dirty, but not liquidey. Allow them to cool, then serve or freeze.

Chocolate brownie, with ice cream and whipped cream

Update 08.04.2012: the photos are still in the camera, but I can say that 1) I survived the cooking experience of all these calories in the kitchen; and 2) I caved when adding the sugar, and added only ("only") 300g and increased the flour up to 200g. I also ended up cooking them for almost two hours, covered with tinfoil, and upping the oven to 190° for the last 45 minutes. Next time, I'd also add less butter. Way less - as in, I'd stop at 250g. They are very heavy. I certainly couldn't eat more than one, and even that one will keep me going for a few days.

Pancakes stuffed with béchamel, mushroom, ham and cheese

A couple of weeks back, for Pancake day, I spotted this recipe in the Irish Times from Domini Kemp.

I’d tested the pancake recipe already (all in the name of research, I guarantee) for these spinach and ricotta ones I made for Pancake day. I doubled the pancake recipe again, but only used 65g butter this time. The pancakes turned out just as good, so you can cut a few calories and grams of fat. Not that this is going to do you any good in this recipe.

The double pancake batter got me 11 or so pancakes this time. I used eight of them to make this. You’ll need two pancakes per person. I supplemented them with a simple salad.

For the bechemel sauce, you'll need:
30g butter

30g flour

250ml semi skimmed milk

Seasoning

Start by getting your oven heated to 190 degrees.

On the stove (in a pot), make the bechamel sauce - melt the butter, add the flour and mix well. Cook for a minute to cook out the flour. Add the milk a dribble at a time and mix well to avoid lumps. Heat through until the sauce thickens and bubbles. This sauce needs to be thick enough to stay inside the pancake, so it needs to be quite solid. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir a good teaspoonful of mustard through the sauce. Chop or slice 250g mushrooms and add them to the sauce. They will cook a bit in the heat.

Take a slice of ham and lay it on the pancake. Add two dessertspoons of the sauce in a line down the centre of the pancake and sprinkle with a little cheese – I used grated gruyere. Roll up and place in a large oven proof dish. Repeat for the other seven pancakes.

I poured about 50ml of light cream over the rolled pancakes before sprinkling the rest of the 100g packet of grated cheese on top.

This goes into the oven for 30 minutes.