Winter Warmer recipe - Cheesy Sausage, Broccoli and Quinoa Bake

I wanted to share this dish I made recently from a recipe by the Chunky Chef as it’s a perfect winter warmer and easy to make.

The quantities can be easily scaled up or down - prepare some quinoa according to the pack instructions (rinsing then simmering on the hob). When cool, fluff with a fork.

Fry some sausages in a pan and at the same time, briefly steam some broccoli (I did this in the microwave). 

You also need a cheese sauce which you can either make from scratch or use a packet mix.

Mix the sausages, broccoli and quinoa into a large greased ovenproof dish and pour over the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs and grated cheese and bake in the oven until brown on top.

The quinoa is a nice change as I don’t eat it very often but it works really well in this recipe. The cheese sauce is what brings it all together and while I made it with regular pork sausages, I am tempted to try this again with chicken sausage!

Cowboy Pie

This pie is based on an idea I saw in a Slimming World book or magazine a while ago but isn't actually particularly Slimming - I wanted an excuse to use my cow print rolling pin again! It came from Etsy and was a Christmas gift last year I think but I've only used it a few times. The rolling pin leaves an imprint of a cow pattern on anything you roll out!

I decided to theme a pie around it and use it to roll out the pastry to go on the top. The cow theme would work for cottage pie (which uses minced beef) but I decided to make what I call a cowboy pie - based on sausage and beans which have associations with cowboys sitting around a camp fire!

Preheat the oven to 180C. First fry or grill a couple of sausages per person until they are just cooked and cut into chunks. You can also add some diced chorizo or pancetta to the pan and fry. Put into a pie dish (either an individual dish or a large one - I did an individual one for my husband) and pour over half a tin of baked beans and mix together.

You can see how the rolling pin leaves the cow pattern on the pastry. I used ready-made shortcrust pastry though you can make your own.

Top the pie with the pastry and trim the edges; make a small hole for any steam to escape

When baked the pastry should turn golden brown (though it doesn't look very brown in this picture)

You also can't see the cow pattern very well any more in this photo, but it was there!

This is what the pie looks like inside - my husband said it was good. It's a nice change to the way you might normally serve sausage and beans, anyway!

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.

Breakfast Burritos

This is more of an idea than a recipe as you can include almost anything you want - but until recently it hadn't even occurred to me to make one of these before. They make a nice change for a breakfast/ brunch/ even lunch - a different way of serving a full English that means you need to cook less food (one sausage per person is enough for instance) so a little goes a long way - good perhaps if you are cooking for crowds.

I cooked some hash browns in the oven plus a couple of sausages, several rashers of streaky bacon and some scrambled eggs. I used Mission Deli wraps as they are really big.

Spread a little hot sauce on the wrap if desired, and sprinkle over grated cheese. Pile in the cooked breakfast....

.. wrap, and enjoy! I didn't take any photos of the finished dish but I still can't get the hang of how to fold burritos anyway! These made a nice change for lunch as my fiancé pretty much always wants a bacon sandwich at the weekend and I'm trying to find ways to do different things that he will still like!

Leftover Sausage Ragu with Spiralized Butternut Squash Noodles

Welcome to my second Spiralizer Saturday! As part of my January health kick I’m going to use my spiralizer for dinner once a week as a way to get myself eating more vegetables, fewer carbs and generally have a healthier meal.

If you have a recipe that can be made using a spiralizer please add it to the linkup at the end of this post.

 

I actually made this recipe a couple of weeks ago to use up some leftover cooked sausages from a new year’s buffet at my fiance’s mum’s house. She is vegetarian so gave us all the leftover sausages to take home! I wanted to find a recipe I could use them in and had the idea of chopping them up and making into a sort of ragu (a meat-based sauce), to serve over spaghetti for my fiancé and with butternut squash noodles for me (he won’t eat butternut squash but I was dying to try it in my spiralizer!). So here’s my recipe:

 

Sausage Ragu with Butternut Squash Noodles – an original recipe from Caroline Makes

 

Serves 2

 

 

Sausages: if standard size, 2-3 per person. If chipolata, you will probably want more. The sausages can be raw or cooked – see instructions below.

Fry Light or 1 tbsp oil

Half an onion, chopped

400g tin chopped tomatoes

Pinch of salt

½ tsp oregano

1 whole butternut squash

 

If you are using raw sausages, chop with scissors and fry them with the onion in a little oil until cooked. If using leftover cooked sausages, fry the onion as above then when the onion is translucent, add the chopped cooked sausage.

 

Put the tomatoes, salt, oregano and 100ml water in the pan and simmer until the sauce has reduced.

 

 

 

Meanwhile peel the butternut squash and cut the ends off so each end is flat. Place in the spiralizer and choose whether you want thin spaghetti style noodles or thicker, fettucine style – I went for the thicker ones for a change as I hadn’t done that before.

 

There are various ways you can cook spiralized veg - boil, or rather blanch, as they only take a couple of minutes; fry in Fry Light or similar, or oven bake. I already had the oven on as I was serving my fiancé's ragu with spaghetti and doing him garlic bread as well so laid out the butternut squash noodles on a baking tray, sprayed them with Fry Light and roasted them in the oven for about 15 minutes. They turned out really well.

Serve the ragu over the top and enjoy.
 

 

If you have a recipe that can be made using a spiralizer please add it to the linkup below.

 

 

Homemade Sausage and Egg 'McMuffins'

I don't really get the obsession with McDonald's breakfasts. I like a McDonald's burger well enough - in fact it's something of a guilty pleasure - but I was disappointed when I tried one of their breakfasts (and also disappointed that they only serve the breakfast menu in the morning). Yet I know people who will literally go out of their way for a McDonald's breakfast - if you do the same, please let me know in the comments, and let me know what is your favourite item to order!

 

As it's sometimes hard to think of brunch or lunch dishes to cook on the weekends at home, I had an idea and decided to make my own sausage and egg muffin - like the 'McMuffin' - to see if I liked it any better.

I've no idea how they get the egg like that - obviously they use a shaped mould to make it perfectly round, but it's so deep as well! For me the sausage patty is a bit on the thin side so that is one advantage of making your own.

I have never even attempted to make poached eggs by slipping the egg straight into a pan of water - one of my friends is an expert at this but says it could have something to do with using freshly laid eggs from her own chickens. I have a microwavable egg poacher which is very handy as it means I can have smoked salmon and poached eggs for breakfast at work - one of my favourite meals to start the day. However it's very easy to overcook the eggs and even make them explode and I never seem to get the yolk to stay runny when the white is cooked. Even if I follow the instructions it depends on the size of the egg and the power of the microwave.

So when I was offered an egg poacher by British Lion eggs I was really excited - not least because it is a traditional egg poacher (rather than an electronic one) which I remember my mum using when I was a child. I didn't even like poached eggs at the time but was fascinated by the little cups that sat in the pan!

Eggs are really good for you - a great source of protein and while there has been a lot written about cholesterol in eggs, evidence now suggests that dietary cholesterol does not increase the risk of heart disease in most healthy people. Eggs are also pretty cheap and it's easy to make a filling meal from them. Check out the British Lion Eggs website for more information and recipes.

The egg poacher was very easy to use - simply put some water in the base, and bring it to the boil on the hob (this pan even worked with my induction hob) with the lid on top. You do need to lightly grease each cup - I sprayed them with Fry Light, or the eggs will stick when you try to take them out. Crack your eggs into the cups and replace the lid and simmer for 4-5 minutes, and you're done! My eggs came out perfectly poached with a solid white and runny yolk, just how I like them.



The poacher is made by Kitchen Craft, available from lots of stockists but you can buy one from Amazon here:



So here's the recipe for my sausage and egg 'McMuffins'
An original recipe by Caroline Makes

You need
2 English muffins
5 sausages - the fairly soft kind rather than butchers' sausages with the higher meat content. I used Richmond.
2 eggs
2 cook-from-frozen hash browns
2 processed cheese slices

Squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausages and shape into patties. Heat some Fry Light in a frying pan and fry the sausage patties on both sides until cooked.

Meanwhile cook the hash browns according to pack instructions - I fried mine.

Poach the eggs as explained above.

Slice the English muffins in half and lightly toast just before the sausage and hash browns are cooked.

To assemble, place the bottom half of the muffin on a plate and layer up the sausage patty, hash brown, egg and cheese slice then place the top of the muffin on top.

I pressed down gently and sliced mine in half as it made it much easier to eat. It tasted delicious - far better than takeaway fast food in my opinion - and was very filling!

I'm sending this to Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy at Supergoldenbakes

I'm also sharing it with Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and in alternate months Janie at The Hedgecombers as their theme this month is anything toasted.

Sausage and Mash Pie

 

 

This is an easy way to jazz up sausages and if you have a fussy eater who likes sausages, you can make them one of these while you have something else yourself like a fish pie which is what I did on this occasion.

 

First cook your sausages (fry or grill) then cut into chunks and put into a small ovenproof dish (I made individual pies but you could make one bigger one). Meanwhile bring some potatoes to the boil in a pan of salted water to make your mashed potato.

I had a sachet of spaghetti Bolognese recipe mix - basically a packet of seasoning - which I must have bought once to try and had never used, so I decided to make up a bit of the mix with water to make a sauce for the sausages.

 

Pour the sauce over the sausages.

Mash the potato and spoon over the top then place in the oven for about 20 minutes until the top of the potato turns crispy.

 

Serve ideally with some green veg if your fussy eater isn't that fussy!

Baking and Butchery at Hobbs House with the Fabulous Baker Brothers

 

In the picturesque Cotswolds village of Chipping Sodbury there stands a bakery with a butcher’s shop next door. The bakery was established in the 1920s and there has been a butchers’ here for about 100 years – quite unusual perhaps these days where there are more convenience stores and supermarkets than independent food producers on the high street.

But this is not just any bakery or butcher’s – this is Hobbs House, the family business of Tom and Henry Herbert.

Tom and Henry – two of six siblings – are perhaps better known as the Fabulous Baker Brothers, thanks to their television show and cookery books. Despite their young age – Tom is 35, Henry 25 – are old hands. Henry has been cooking since he was a teenager and Tom won Young Baker of the Year when he was fresh out of college. Henry moved to London where he trained at Westminster Kingsway College and worked at Le Gavroche, the Michelin-starred restaurant, but when an opportunity came up to run the butcher’s next door to his brother’s bakery, he moved back to the Cotswolds.

Since the success of their TV show and cookery books, the brothers have started running cookery courses at Hobbs House, and it’s for this reason that I found myself standing on the pavement outside with a suitcase on a drizzly April morning. My boyfriend knows that I am a big fan of the brothers and for Christmas bought me a place on one of their courses –the only one that the pair of them teach together. Having said that, when only one is teaching, the other is usually present and will pop in to the classroom now and then – so if you fancy doing a course and want to meet both brothers you will probably still get the chance!

I was signed up to the baking and butchery class, which ran from 9am-4pm (though we actually finished at 4.30). It’s not cheap at £295, but it really is worth the money. There were only six of us and we spent the entire day with the brothers, and by the end I felt like they were old friends.

The school is above the bakery – I’m sure I remember Tom saying this is the house they grew up in and one of the classrooms was actually his bedroom. As I went upstairs I bumped into Henry and had a moment of celebrity-awe, then Tom came over to say hello as well and started chatting. I’ve met celebrities- or at least well-known people – before so wasn’t expecting to be fazed, but when it’s someone you are genuinely a fan of, it is still a little overwhelming!

I was shown into a room where tea, coffee and pastries were laid out and I ate the best almond croissant I have ever had – made by the Hobbs House bakery of course. I was joined shortly after by another attendee of the course and by 9, everyone had arrived – five women and one man. I was very jealous of a few of the women who lived half an hours’ drive away and one who had been to the school before – if London wasn’t so far away I’d be a regular!

The day started with Tom and Henry giving an introduction, talking about their background, the history of the bakery and what we were going to do that day. The brothers made a great double-act – teasing each other and chipping in with anecdotes. They handed out name badges and told us to write our names “or whatever you want us to call you today”. I thought best not to say that I’d like to be called  “the future Mrs Herbert” as the two actual Mrs Herberts probably wouldn’t appreciate that! Did I mention I may have the *smallest* crush on the rather Fabulous Baker Brothers and one of them in particular… 

They came across as really genuine, passionate about what they do and thoroughly nice guys. Before I realised, an hour and a half had flown by – by this point Tom was making some bread dough, explaining each stage in the process, giving each of us a specific tip to remember and passing on all sorts of advice on everything from types of flour to the advantages of fresh or dried yeast (dried yeast is fine, but never use the fast-acting kind as it is full of chemicals, which will change the make-up of your recipe, Tom said).

Often when I am doing a cookery course or cake decorating lesson, I would feel short-changed  if I was watching rather than doing anything. But in this case, I was so fascinated listening to Tom – and looking at him as well, as he is rather easy on the eyes – and was learning so much I didn’t notice that I wasn’t actively doing anything. 

Then it was time for us to get involved and we were put to work each kneading a piece of dough – for 15 minutes. I haven’t made bread very often before, usually using my Panasonic bread maker machine, but when I have made it by hand, I get bored or tired after just a few minutes of kneading. Tom stressed the importance of a full 15 minutes, and shared a tip – when covering the bowl when you leave the dough to prove, use a cheap plastic shower cap like the kind you get in hotels. That’s better than clingfilm as it gives the dough space to rise. I asked Tom where to leave the dough as the usual directions of “a warm place” aren’t very helpful; I know you can get kitchens these days with built-in proving drawers and I asked if those were needed. “Yes, there is a need for them,” Tom began, “if you are a kitchen company trying to sell an expensive kitchen”. So in other words, no. Any warm place will do – unfortunately I can’t put my dough next to an open fire like Tom did, but I could put it in the airing cupboard or even out in the kitchen if it is a warm day. On top of the fridge is another idea as that tends to be quite warm too.

We rolled out our dough to make pittas, bread rolls and pizza bases, and Tom also demonstrated making a focaccia. One handy trick I learnt if you are making a batch of rolls or pittas is to weigh your dough into 100g portions then they are all the right (and same) size.

I've never made pittas before and was interested to learn that once they are rolled out, they literally need just a couple of minutes in the oven, at the highest temperature your oven will go to. We watched them puffing up before our eyes, sliced into them and dipped them into some of Henry's homemade pesto - absolute heaven! I also learnt that you should never put bread onto a cold oven tray; always preheat it in the oven or better still, use a baking stone. I'd never heard of that but asked if it was similar to a pizza stone and Tom said it was the same thing but a different shape. So I will definitely get more use out of my pizza stone now!

We also rolled out circles of the same dough to make pizza bases; Tom demonstrated how to toss and catch them.

We then topped the pizzas and cooked them in this free standing mini pizza oven with Henry's help.

This was our lunch, accompanied by a glass of wine and eaten as we chatted to the brothers.

Tom eating a piece of the pizza that I made :-)

After lunch it was Henry's turn to take centre stage. He wrote a few rough recipes on the blackboard and explained what we were going to do... if you're squeamish about butchery you won't like the next few photos.

First we made a spice rub for some lamb

Then Henry took us down to the slaughterhouse and gave a very useful lesson in the different cuts of meat, by pointing to a side of beef and a whole lamb (well, minus head and innards) hanging on butcher's hooks. He then took a lamb over to the table and proceeded to joint it completely, explaining as he went how to make a rack of lamb, which cut is best for which dish and so on. It was very interesting and Henry is clearly passionate and very knowledgeable about butchery.

He asked for a volunteer so of course I put my hand up. Here I am (in an unflattering apron) about to joint a leg of lamb.

When we came back upstairs to the school, our bread rolls and focaccia were ready.

Mmm, very tasty... the loaf of bread looks good too!

Henry had prepared these lamb chops from the animal you saw in the photo earlier and we coated them in the spice rub. We were meant to be making lamb kebabs from neck and shoulder but a woman came into the shop and asked for the last shoulder just as Henry was about to start his demonstration, so rather reluctantly he sold it to her instead!

Some of the lamb was minced, by an assistant

We were making sausages and burgers which I was really looking forward to. I've made burgers several times before but never sausages. I have a Kitchenaid and have several attachments apart from the sausage maker, and was wondering if it would be worth investing in, but had no idea how to use it or how to go about stuffing a sausage. Luckily, Henry was using the exact same machine (well, almost- his wasn't pink) so now if I do get the attachment I know exactly how to use it. Don't ask what the sausage skins are made of though!

Stuffing the sausages is a two-person job but it was easier than I was expecting and lots of fun.

Here's my string of sausages. I flavoured my lamb mince with some herbs and spices.

Meanwhile we also made burgers by pressing a ball of mince into patties. Tom cooked them over an open fire.

At the end of the day - well, 4pm - we sat down to the most delicious meal. The burger buns were perfect and the burgers so juicy. I'm not sure what kind of cheese we had melted over the top but I was in heaven.

We also had the lamb chops, sliced up, with the focaccia and salad. At the end of the day I went on my way with a folder of recipes, a bag of leftover fresh yeast, a Hobbs House dough divider, my string of sausages and a burger to cook later at home, a signed cookery book (my own, which I had brought with me to be signed), a loaf tin for making bread (a large metal one the same as the one Tom was using), a bag of Shipton Mill flour (from a local mill, that they use in the bakery), loads of photos and many happy memories. Tom and Henry are thoroughly nice blokes, so easy to get along with that I envied their friends (and yes, their wives)! Their enthusiasm and passion for cooking is wonderful and it felt like this was the first time they had run this class - not because they were unsure of themselves or amateurish, quite the opposite, but because they were so excited and when one brother was taking the session the other kept popping in to see what was going on or help or just to stop and chat, which I really wasn't expecting. In short, I had a wonderful day and strongly recommend this class, which is well worth the money. I'm already hoping to go back!