Sticky Sausage, Carrot and Cous Cous Bake

Sausages are a great family food at this time of year, perhaps due to the association between bangers and bonfire night. It's also nice when you can just throw things into a pan in the oven at this time of year and enjoy some warming flavours.

I came across this recipe on the Tesco website for sticky sausages with carrots and couscous - not things I would have thought to combine, but it was really good and something I will definitely make again.

To serve 4 (or fewer, depending on how many sausages you want per person) you need:
8 pork sausages
150g Tendersweet carrots, halved lengthways - I used regular carrots though Chantenay carrots would also be good
1 red onion, sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp clear honey

for the couscous:
200g couscous
1 tbsp. fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 lemon, juiced

For the harissa yogurt

1 tbsp harissa paste

150g pot natural yogurt

 

Preheat oven to 200C. Line a roasting tin with foil and put the sausages, carrots and onions in the pan and toss with the cumin, coriander and oil. Roast for 30 minutes, turning halfway, until cooked through.

 

 

 

Make up the couscous according to pack instructions and leave to stand until all the water has been absorbed. Mix in the herbs, oil and lemon juice.

 

To make the harissa yogurt, mix the harissa paste into the yogurt. When the sausages are cooked, drizzle over the honey and toss the sausages and vegetables until they are coated. Serve with the couscous and harissa yogurt on the side.

 

I'm sharing this with Charlotte's Lively Kitchen's Food Calendar challenge as it was British Sausage Week when I made this recipe.

Turkey Koftas in Pitta Bread

 

 

Christmas was long enough ago that I think I can face eating turkey again! You could make koftas from any kind of mince but they work really well with turkey and it's a very low fat option compared to red meat.

 

These are very simple to make, and to serve two, you need:

250g turkey mince

1 tsp harissa paste

1 tsp fresh chopped coriander

to serve:

pitta breads

fat free natural yogurt

1 clove garlic, crushed

salad leaves

 

Mix the turkey, harissa and coriander in a bowl and combine well.

 

Form into balls and then either grill or fry in a frying pan sprayed with Fry Light until browned and the meat is cooked through (it's best to cut one in half to check).

To serve, split open a pitta bread. Mix the garlic with the yogurt and spread inside, then add a few rocket or lettuce leaves and the turkey koftas. Enjoy!

Slimming World-style Harissa Lamb with Potatoes Boulangere

I made this a little while ago and can no longer find the recipe so I'm still blogging it partly as a reminder to myself! It's a fairly simple and tasty recipe and a good way to serve lamb if you are fed up with mint sauce (though I never get fed up with mint sauce!).

For the lamb you need harissa paste - I used ready made though if you are ambitious I imagine you could make your own - fat free Greek yogurt, and the juice and zest of a lemon.

Mix all of the above - you only need about 1 tsp of the harissa paste and about 3 tbsp of yogurt to serve two.

Spread the mixture over lamb chops and leave to marinade for a few hours or ideally overnight. Then bake in the oven.

To make the potatoes boulangere, thinly slice the potatoes using a mandolin or potato peeler.

Layer in an ovenproof dish with a sliced red onion

Pour over a pint of vegetable stock and bake in the oven for about an hour. Recipes like this often use cream but this is a healthy low fat version and just as tasty.

When the lamb is cooked you still have a nice layer of the harissa yogurt mixture on top.

I served the lamb with the potatoes and some vegetables; it's a nice dinner recipe that I would do again.