Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Cumberland Sausage Casserole

Oh how the time flies. A very busy non-food, music-week has passed since I last posted. My suspicions were right: the blogging has to take a back seat. Seeing the hit stats depresses me. I think I may take the counter off, so I can pretend that lots of people are still checking out this silly little page ‘o’ mine.

Days away from home = no food in the house and no cooking. Tonight’s hang-over inspired fare is the only thing vaguely worth writing about. I managed to piece together a kind of Italian influenced Cumberland Sausage Casserole type thing, with limited ingredients.

What I Used:

4 Cumberland Sausages
1 Onion (sliced)
1 Clove Garlic (sliced)
1 x 410g Tin Haricot Beans
Frozen Garden Peas (handful)
Balsamic Vinegar (a good slug, nearly ½ wine glass)
Passata (sieved tomatoes, about 1 pint)
Water (about 1 cup)
Cayenne Pepper (about ½ tsp)
Fresh Parsley (handful, chopped)
Fresh Basil (about 1 tsp, chopped)
Salt & Cracked Black Pepper

How I Made It:

  • Take a pan with some olive oil, over a medium heat. Add the sausages and onions to colour for approximately 3 mins. Add the garlic for a further minute.
  • Add the balsamic vinegar and let it cook down for about 2 mins.
  • Add remaining ingredients, apart from the parsley and basil. Reduce the heat to a simmer; cook uncovered for 20-25 mins until reduced and thick like a sauce consistency. Stir every few mins.
  • Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped parsley, basil, salt & pepper to taste.

And that’s all there is to it. I ladled the finished casserole into deep plates and finished with a few parmesan shavings. Ideally eat this with crusty bread. I didn’t because I didn’t have any.

x

5 comments:

Michele said...

Sounds delicious... what kind of sausages would us US folks use if we can't find the Cumberlands?

Rachael Narins said...

I was going to ask a similar question...what are cumberland sausages? Sweet? Spciy? Beef? Pork? Inquiring minds want to know!

Dennis Caswell said...

The Cumberland Sausages are pork and are spicy. They tend to be from better cuts of meat and with less 'gristle', more proper, good meat.

It's not as easy in the States, as I'm reliably informed...this place: http://www.freshdirect.com - (look under meat) shows similar sausages to the ones we widely use in this country...

Any spicy, 'proper' sausage, with skin is what you need.

Rachael Narins said...

Oh peach! Now I need to know what a "proper" versus, "improper" sausage is!

Is an improper sausage one who shows up at a black tie affair two hours late, with a call girl on both arms, reeking of cheap liquor and wearing a bowler hat?

Do tell...us Yanks, turns out we are tragically uninformed...

Dennis Caswell said...

...you said it.

he he

x