Pots & Plots

I make no claims as to the authenticity of this dish.  I glanced at a handful of recipes online and eventually made this one up based on what ingredients I had on hand.  What started the whole thing was this package of “authentic English sausages” that came in our latest Angel Food shipment.  Now I lived in Scotland for a while, and I know I ate sausage while I was there, but I don’t remember how it differs from our sausage.  In any event, one classic pub dish I remember fondly is bangers and mash.  I can’t guarantee how close it tastes to what they serve over there, but it was a hit at our house.  Interesting.

Ingredients:

• 1 package English sausages (5 links)
• 4 good sized potatoes, diced (peeled if you prefer, but I like the skins in my mashed potatoes)
• 4 oz. fresh mushrooms
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 Tbsp margarine or butter
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions:

1. Add the diced potatoes to a pot with water and boil until tender (approximately 20 minutes depending on how fine the dice).
2. In a skillet, melt the butter or margarine.
3. Add the sausages and cook over medium heat, flipping when the casing browns.
4. When both sides of the sausage are browned, remove from skillet.
5. Add mushrooms to skillet and sautee them in the juices from the sausage.  This would also be an excellent time to sautee some onions, but remember I am married to Mr. Anti-Onion, so I didn’t use them.  Instead I sauteed them in olive oil and set them aside.  Remove to a plate.
6. Add the sausage back to the skillet and add the cup of beef broth to the skillet.  You’re going to braise the sausage until they’re cooked through.  Mine went about 15 minutes, flipping in the middle.
7. When sausage is cooked through, remove from skillet.
8. Add 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch to a bit of cold water and stir until smooth.
9. Add cornstarch mixture to the skillet. Return to a boil stirring constantly. Add 1 cup of beef broth and make a gravy.
10. Reduce heat to a simmer until thickened.
11. Slice sausage into chunks and add back to gravy along with mushrooms.
12. Drain and mash your potatoes with salt, pepper, butter, and milk as preferred.
13. Plate up with a layer of potatoes, then the sausage, mushrooms, and gravy. And the onions if you want (IMO they’re much better with onions).

DH and I have been doing Angel Food Ministries for a couple of months, which we’ve really liked. This month’s order had a package of Italian sausage, which is something I never buy, so I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with it. I finally decided that I’d do something with pasta because hey, pasta goes with all things Italian.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 4 links Italian sausage (about 1 pound)
• 2 roasted red peppers, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 oz. fresh baby bella mushrooms
• 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup chicken stock (if you make and freeze your sock in ice cube trays, this is 10 cubes’ worth)
• 16 oz. pasta of your choice
• fresh parmesan (optional)
• goat cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Drizzle a little olive oil in a skillet.
2. Remove sausage from casing and brown in the skillet
3. Put cooked sausage into a colander (retaining a couple of tablespoons of grease) and rinse well. This cuts way down on the fat content.
4. To the remaining grease add onion and garlic and sautee until onion is transluscent.
5. Add all ingredients to your crock pot and stir well.
6. Cook on low for 6 hours.
7. Serve over the pasta of your choice and top with sprinkles of Parmesan or goat cheese.

I have never been that big a fan of bratwurst.  The couple of times my hubby has cooked them, they tasted like giant breakfast sausages on buns.  I’m not opposed to breakfast sausage, but I don’t want it for dinner.  I’m more of a keilbasa kind of girl.  But last grocery trip he begged, so I bought a package of Johnsonville Beer and Brats.  This time, I didn’t make the mistake of letting him cook them.  I did some research and found that virtually every brat recipe I found called for simmering them in beer and onions before tossing them on the grill.  Well there was mistake number one.  Hubby hates onions and neglects to even use them for flavoring when they should be used.  We didn’t have any beer on hand, and I wanted hard cider, so hubby sugggested that we try simmering them in that.  The results were amazing.  (Sorry, no pic again.  They disappeared too fast).

Ingredients:

• 1 package of bratwurst sausages
• enough buns for all the sausages
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 1 12 oz. hard cider (I used Hornsby Crisp Apple–I’d be interested to know if just apple juice would work for this recipe)

Directions:

1. Drizzle the olive oil in a skillet and turn heat to medium high.
2. Slice your onions.  If you plan to put them on your brats, you might want to make some effort to keep the rings somewhat uniform, but otherwise, just a rough chop.  Toss them into the skillet when the oil is hot and quickly sautée until caramelized.
3. Add in the brats and the cider.  Bring to a bubble and reduce heat.
4. Simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Pre-heat your grill.
6. Once the brats have been simmered in their cider and onion bath for 20 minutes, remove them to the grill and cook at low flame for about 3-4 minutes per side to crisp up the casings.
7. Serve on buns with desired toppings (I like mine plain.  Hubby likes mayo, mustard, ketchup, and cheese.)

In the category of things that make you go mmmmmmmmmmmm, I present to you, my mother-in-law’s sausage dip–lightened up, of course.  This pairs great with homemade tortilla chips or, as my husband prefers, Fritos Scoops.  With sausage and cheese, what’s not to love?  Your favorite carnivore will thank you

.Ingredients:

• 1 lb turkey sausage (original recipe calls for pork, but I slashed the fat by 74%)
• 1lb Velveeta cut into 1/2 ” cubes (I used 2% Velveeta, cutting more fat)
• 1 7 oz can of mushrooms, drained (I have yet to make this with fresh mushrooms.  If you try it, let me know how it turns out)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes and chiles
• skim milk

Directions:

1. Brown the sausage over medium high heat.
2. Drain and rinse cooked sausage to get rid of any extra grease.
3. In a 2 quart microwave safe dish (think Corningware), add the cubed Velveeta, the sausage, the undrained can of tomatoes and chiles and the mushrooms.  Add a splash of milk (This really depends on how thick or thin you like your dip.  I suggest starting with a splash and adding more as you get it melted.)
4. Microwave in 1-2 minute increments, stirring well after each session in the nuker.
5. It’s finished when all the cheese is melted and everything stirs together smoothly.
6. Reheats well.

You could also make this dip in a small crock pot, though I’ve never tried that either (don’t have a small crock pot).  This is great for a party.  We make it every Super Bowl.

My husband loves red beans and rice, but I am very much not a fan of red beans. I do, however, love black beans, so tonight I threw this together. We decided it was a keeper.

Serves: 4 (if served with a side, such as a salad), 3 if served alone

Ingredients

• 1 pound smoked turkey sausage (I prefer Oscar Meyer), sliced
• 1 can of black beans, drained
• 1 can of rotel, undrained
• 1-1/5 cups of brown rice, cooked
• 1/2 cup diced, roasted red peppers
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• cumin
• cilantro
• paprika

Directions:

1. Saute the garlic and onion over medium high heat until onion is just translucent.
2. Add in sausage and roasted red peppers. Cook until sausage begins to brown.
3. Add black beans, rotel, and chicken stock. Bring to a bubble then reduce heat to medium low.
4. Add 1 tsp cilantro, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp cumin (and these are guesstimates, as I wasn’t measuring, just dumping and sniffing!)
5. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half (about 15 minutes?).
6. Add brown rice. Simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed (about 5 minutes?).
7. Serve with a crusty French bread to mop up the flavors left on the bottom of the bowl.

Bon appetite!

As a quick update: This dish serves 4 at 430.5 calories and 13.5 grams of fat per person.