Sausage & red pepper Mexican rice - one pot, big flavours!

Some time ago, I received some fairly intense instruction from my lovely friend Deb Barragan on how to make Mexican rice to accompany things like burritos, enchiladas and fajitas.  I think she was fed up with keep seeing potato wedges, chips or savoury rice appearing alongside such things.  *chuckle*

Since having acquired the knack of Mexican rice, I discovered  a brilliant recipe that included grated cheese over the lot.  You can only imagine how much my menfolk approved of that.

So when I was contemplating this week's meals, I remembered that I had a complete shed load of Spanish rice in the cupboard.  Immediately the "plus cheese" Mexican rice recipe came to mind and, instead of thinking of something to go alongside, I began to think about what could go inside.  Bacon was rejected.  I know, but still, it seemed too salty.  Sausages were the next idea - and skinned sausages made into meatballs seemed perfect.

I also wanted to include some sort of vegetable matter in the mix and just happened to have a red pepper going begging.  A bit like the small amount of finely sliced sandwich chorizo that was going begging from the cheddar & chorizo quiche and the end of a chorizo sausage that was also looking for a job to do.  (I skinned and quartered that!).  So in a funny kind of way, the recipe made itself just by thinking about what would go with what - and what I already had in the fridge!

There wasn't enough rice to say that this was risotto-like, but it did have something of a risotto quality to it as the creamy rice grains held everything together and gave it a reason to be there.  The addition of the grated cheese at the end just turned what was a tasty thing into a delicious thing and gave it heaps of appeal where the menfolk were concerned.  I liked it a lot.  We didn't have any accompaniments with ours - we're trying to cut down on portion sizes and definitely cutting down on carbs, so garlic bread was a no:no.  Personally, I think it would have been lovely with a green salad with balsamic dressing, whereas my hubby was after a bit of bread to mop up the sauce with.  So go with what your menfolk and/or conscience decrees!

As for Cook's Tips, there are a couple included in the recipe.  However aside from that, it is worth noting that the Harissa paste I used includes cumin in its recipe so I left that ingredient out.  It's worthwhile checking yours and doing the same, if so.

Another tip involves the tinned tomatoes.  For those of you in the U.K., by far and away my favourite type of tinned chopped tomatoes are from the Tarantella brand.  They are organic and as such a wee bit more expensive than lots - but the flavour and lack of acidity is just streets ahead.

Well, there you are.  All that remains is for me to wish you good cooking and you to make your menfolk very happy.  Oh - and you may want to up the Harissa content if you and/or your menfolk are dead keen on food that makes your nose glow.  *wink*

SAUSAGE & RED PEPPER MEXICAN RICE    (serves 3)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp olive oil
8 pork sausages, skinned and each separated into 4 small meatballs
90g thinly sliced chorizo, cut into ribbons or small pieces
1 red onion, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red pepper, cored, de-seeded and diced small
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp Harissa paste
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chicken stock powder or 1 chicken stock cube
400g tin chopped tomatoes
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
180g Spanish rice (Paella rice is good for this)
300ml hot water
150g mature cheddar cheese, grated
3-4 slices of Mexicana cheese
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley as garnish.

Method :

Begin by heating the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan or wok (one with a lid) over a high heat.  Once good and hot, add the sausage meatballs and fry until a deep golden brown on at least three sides.  Spoon away and discard a good two thirds of the ensuing oil from the sausages.

Add the chorizo, onion, garlic and red pepper and stir fry - it's quite important to keep the pan contents moving with occasional pauses - until the onion is softened and there is a degree of juice evident.  Add 50ml of water to the pan and cover it.  Continue to cook, covered, for around 5 minutes or so.

Once the peppers have begun to soften, uncover and add the oregano, Harissa, tomato puree, tomato ketchup, cumin powder (if required), chicken stock powder, chopped tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and stir gently to combine.

Reduce the heat to moderate and add the dry rice.  Stir gently to combine and make sure that each grain is covered by the flavoured oil, then add the water and gradually stir it in.  Replace the lid and simmer for approximately 20 minutes until the rice has cooked.  You will need to remove the lid and stir the contents from time to time to prevent the underside from burning.  A little sizzle is good - and to be recommended in Spain - so I tend to leave that until the last couple of stirs.

Once the rice is cooked and the liquid has reduced, turn off the heat, sprinkle the grated cheese over the rice, lay the Mexicana on top and don't stir for the next 5 minutes.

Serve onto warmed plates and garnish with the chopped parsley.  You can either serve it as it is, or with bread to mop up the sauce, or even with a green salad.

Printable version

Cheese & mustard pork sausage filo rolls - perfect crunchy morsels

So what do you do when you've bought a pack of Turkish "Sac Yufka", or filo pastry, and find that you have enough pastry left over to pave the way from your kitchen to the moon and back? 

Oddly enough, I also had best part of a pack of pork sausages left over from a miscalculation and hubby immediately said "sausage rolls!" when I pondered audibly as to what to do with them both.  Seemed like a great idea. 

Now, as luck would have it, I just happened to also have a small bowl of grated mature cheddar cheese that was also a leftover and just asking to be used in something.

Sausage, cheese, crispy pastry - yes, but it definitely needed something to lift the flavours.  English mustard would be good, but our son isn't keen on English mustard.  So, French mustard did the job - and, to be honest, I think it did it rather better than the English would have done. 

So easy to make - just paint the pastry with oil or melted butter (I used a combination of groundnut oil and melted butter), spread on a tiny amount of mustard, sprinkle on some grated cheese, then lay on a skinned sausage and roll 'er up.  Cut in half and ta-daa!  Sausage rolls all ready to go in the oven (barring a quick swipe with the oily brush to encourage them to become golden).

At this stage they can be frozen, (provided the sausages haven't already been frozen).  It is best to do so unbaked or be prepared to bake them again for 10-15 minutes to crisp up the pastry, if already cooked.

Truth be told, just about anything could go with the sausages in these sausage rolls - so feel free to go wild with funky combinations!  Sausage and pickle, sausage and mushrooms, sausage & olives, sausage and chillis - I'm sure you can think of many more.  I've since made some with wholegrain mustard and again with brown pickle (like Branston) and I can't decide which is the nicer as they were all so good!

The filo gives a deliciously light and crunchy texture to the soft, tasty sausage meat that would make them perfect for a finger buffet, or high tea, picnic or just as a snack.  Don't wait until you've got leftover filo, sausages or cheese - these are too tasty to wait! 

CHEESE & MUSTARD PORK SAUSAGE FILO ROLLS   (makes 16 individual rolls)

Ingredients :

8 pork sausages, skinned
8 rectangles of filo pastry 3" x 6" (approx)
4 tbsp grated cheddar cheese
French mustard to taste
10g melted butter or groundnut oil.

Method :

Take a rectangle of pastry and brush with melted butter or oil.

Spread a small amount of French mustard across one third of the pastry.

Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the mustard.

Place a skinned sausage on top of the cheese and slightly stretch it to reach both sides, if necessary.

Begin to roll the sausage into its cheesy mustardy pastry from the sausage end, right to the end of the pastry.

Taking a very sharp knife, cut the sausage roll in half.

Place each half onto a baking sheet (I always line mine with baking parchment or greaseproof paper), making sure they are sitting upon the pastry join.

Place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/340degF/Gas 4 for 15 minutes, then turn to achieve an even bake and replace for another 10 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the sausage is obviously cooked.

Serve immediately, or cool on a wire cooling rack.  

Printable version

Sausage & Saffron Risotto - a delicate delight!

I know you're all thinking "sausage risotto, delicate?".  I thought that, too.  I am very pleased to report that it was indeed delicate and - as with all risottos - warming, comforting and very very satisfying.

Now, as ever, I didn't make this one.  The Risotto Whiz - hubby - was in full charge of the stock pan and was seen to be standing at the cooker, muttering quietly and peering into the biggest of our saucepans, looking a little worried and more than a little mystified.

All of which was because, apparently, even though this recipe originates back to the Godfather of Italian cooking (alright, maybe not "the Godfather", but he's pretty old these days!), Antonio Carluccio, it all happened in a different order to risotto cooking as hubby knows it.  This is not a good thing, as it rocks a Risotto Whiz on his foundations and makes him mutter at his risotto.

However - and perhaps this only goes to prove what a true teacher Antonio Carluccio is - the risotto came together with no apparent evidence that it had been put together in a different order to the usual.  I think congratulations should also be sent hubby's way, that he didn't panic when he realised that things were happening differently in the recipe, but carried on stoically through to a delicious end result.  It would have been very easy to have panicked and trashed the lot, I'd have thought.

I'm afraid I still have a complaint about the sausages though.  We used Asda's "Extra Special" Traditional Pork Sausages, which are 90% pork.  Now you would think that they'd be lovely, wouldn't you?  For me, they were hard, dry and relatively tasteless.  Why the heck don't sausage makers include more sausage fat in their sausages?  Yes, I know, the fat is bad for you, blah, blah, blah - but it is where the FLAVOUR is!  For goodness' sake, there's no point in putting 90% meat into a sausage if you can't taste it!  Reduce the meat content a fraction and add a fraction more fat so that we can get back to the juicy sausage that bursts in your mouth with gorgeous porky flavour.  *sigh*  The majority of fat renders out of a well cooked sausage anyway, so there's really no problem.  These sausages were so lean that they hardly made any fat in the cooking and were hard, dry and relatively flavourless.

I'm sure that if it hadn't have been for the fact that they were broken into small pieces (so there was a greater surface area ratio going on when fried), accompanied by the saffron (which is relatively highly flavoured) and some very good chicken stock, the whole dish would have failed on the flavour front.

Even with the sausages doing their best to scupper the whole show, the risotto turned out to be delicately flavoured and gorgeous.  The luxuriousness of the saffron offset the ordinariness of the sausages, which coupled with the flavour of the white wine, parmesan and the good stock, combined in an excellent forkful of delightfully creamy, cheesy goodness.

Another example of how just a few ingredients can have such a terrific result.

SAUSAGE & SAFFRON RISOTTO    (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

2.5 litres chicken stock
300g good pork sausages, stripped of their skins and broken into pieces
a good pinch of saffron threads
1 large onion, finely chopped
100g unsalted butter
100ml white wine
500g risotto rice
60g freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Method :

1.  Bring the stock to the boil and keep it simmering in a pot on the stove, next to where you are going to make the risotto.

2.  Toast the saffron strands in a dry pan for a few seconds, but be careful not to burn them.  Set them aside.

3.  In a large shallow pan, fry the onion in half the butter, then add the sausagemeat and cook for around 10 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid any burning.

4.  Add the wine and let it evaporate for a couple of minutes, while you stir and deglaze the pan.


5.  Pour in the rice and stir to let it coat with the wine and butter mixture.  When it is starting to stick to the bottom of the pan, begin adding the hot stock in ladlefuls.  Start stirring and as soon as the first lot of liquid is absorbed, add some more - but not so much that the rice begins to drown.


6.  After some 10 minutes, add the saffron threads and some seasoning.  Continue with adding the stock and stirring until - after some 18-20 minutes - when you taste a grain of rice, it is al dente.


7.  Once the rice is ready, stir in the remaining butter and half the parmesan.


8.  Serve with the remainder of the parmesan for sprinkling to taste.


Printable version is here 
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Barbecue Sausages & Red Pepper

Spice it up, or spice it down - whichever way you want your chilli , this recipe is completely double yummy.

I had best part of a bottle of Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae Sauce left over from another dish and so needed to find it a job to do.  Coincidentally, we also had around 200ml of tomato Passata left over from the same dish (which we'd put in the freezer, awaiting eventualities), plus two red peppers that never got made into stuffed peppers.  So, thinking about how to use the both of them immediately led me to ye olde sausage.

Ready for the oven

I have discovered that, in order to render an inedible dry sausage juicy and infinitely edible, the best thing to do with it is to cook it in a sauce.  Either in meatball style, or directly as a sausage, it works as well both ways.  I've whinged on in the past about how sausages just don't seem to have the same "juiciness" as they used to - and lay the blame at the door of the fat police.  Now I have some sympathy with the fat police (being seriously overweight myself), but not at the expense of what a food product is supposed to do.  To me, a sausage runs completely out of appeal, if it doesn't burst in your mouth with flavour and preferably, it is supposed to (when a whole sausage is bitten into on the end of a fork) drip down your chin in tantalising fashion.  I'd far rather eat fewer delicious sausages, than eat more dry and boring sausages.

So, having indulged in a bit more whinging about sausages (sorry about that!) I shall stop digressing.


I had a feeling that the Barbecue sauce would go very nicely with mashed potato.  I will admit to being a bit of a mashed potato fan - and have paired some odd things with lovely mash, things that have made hubby recoil in alarm.  However, this time, I was right and a forkful of sauce and mash was a symphony of comforting buttery potato, followed by sweetness, then savouriness, then the growing heat of the chilli.  The sweetness of the sweetcorn and peas that I served alongside, just helped as a bit of a respite from the chilli - even though the effect of the chilli was much reduced by the sweet red peppers - and provided a nice crispness to the overall texture.

Incidentally, speaking of chilli, the Levi Roots' sauce is pretty effective at providing chilli heat.  Well, it is made with Scotch Bonnet peppers!  However, if you're not so keen on the effects of chilli, but are keen on barbecue flavours - just get an ordinary barbecue sauce.  If, on the other hand, you're a fire-breathing chilli hound, then why not add a few dried chilli flakes to the mix?  It's up to you. 

Baked and ready to serve

As a weekday meal, this one is a real winner.  I'd even go so far as to buy some more Reggae Reggae sauce just so that I can make it again - and it is very definitely going on my "list of good sausage recipes".   Needless to say, both hubby and son thoroughly enjoyed the meal - the brilliant Jelly potatoes make such excellent mash that even hubby sets aside his hatred of the humble potato long enough to enjoy a very different variation on Sausage & Mash.

BARBECUE SAUSAGES & RED PEPPER    (serves 3)

Ingredients :

9 good pork sausages
a tbsp olive oil
a red onion, sliced thinly
a red pepper, de-seeded and sliced thinly
200ml tomato passata
200ml barbecue sauce (I used Levi Roots' Reggae Reggae sauce)
a pinch of smoked paprika
a tbsp of mushroom ketchup (or Worcestershire sauce)
a tbsp of tomato ketchup
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper. 


Method :


1.  Pre-heat your oven to 180degC/350degF/Gas4.


2.  Taking a non-stick frying pan, heat the olive oil and cook the sausages just to colour them.  You aren't looking to have them cooked through at this stage.


3.  Place the sausages into an oven proof dish to keep warm.


4.  Place the onion and pepper into the frying pan and cook on a medium heat until softened and just beginning to colour.


5. Add the passata, barbecue sauce, mushroom ketchup, smoked paprika, tomato ketchup and season to taste.  Stir well until mixed thoroughly and heated through.


6.  Pour onto the sausages, then bake in the oven for some 30-35 minutes until the sausages are cooked through.


7.  Serve with buttery mashed potato, peas and sweetcorn.


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Devilled sausages : a family favourite

What can I say about Devilled Sausages?

They have been one of my few recipes that I have carried forward over the years.  They date back to childhood, when my Mum would make a much less interesting version - but no less tasty - which was always greeted well.

When I moved out from home and went to live on the boat, they became a staple there too.

I can remember making them once I'd moved back to dry land, in a shared house in Kingston Upon Thames.  I used to accompany them with an enormous home-made coleslaw with sultanas, or a big old salad - sometimes involving banana!  Enough for everyone.

When I moved to my own place in Oxshott in Surrey, I can remember coming home from a day at work, then an evening with the horses, then walking the dogs and finishing by whipping up eight devilled sausages.  I'd eat four that night, then keep four more for the next day which I'd eat cold with the home-made coleslaw.  Yummy!

I doubt there will ever come a moment when Devilled Sausages are suggested and rejected.  I hope not, anyway!  As good hot as they are cold, they can be packed into lunchboxes or even - as I did - packed into boxes to accompany a picnic dinner whilst watching Gilbert & Sullivan at Polesdon Lacey.

You can tinker about with the devilling mixture, but this is the one that hits the spot after all these years.

DEVILLED SAUSAGES  (makes 8)

Ingredients :

1 pack of 8 pork sausages, Cumberland are good, but plain old Pork are best.
1 tablespoon of Branston pickle (Brown pickle)
2 teaspoons of Dark Orange Marmalade
1 tablespoon of smooth Peanut Butter
2 teaspoons of Madras Curry Powder
1 teaspoon of English mustard powder
Optional ingredients include a teaspoon of mango chutney and however much hot sauce you prefer!

Method :

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 180deg C.

2.  Take each sausage and cut a slit into it, along the long side.  Open the slit out until you have made the sausage boat-shaped.

3.  Place it on a baking tray and fill with a teaspoonful of the devilling mixture.  Ensure the mix is spread from end to end.

4.  When all sausages are complete, put into the oven for 25-30 minutes (depending on the size of your sausages).

5.  They are done when the sausages are well coloured and the devilling mix has melted into the sausage and browned.

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Mustard & Lemon Sausages

The fact that I got hold of this recipe is entirely down to the power of Twitter.

There I was, quietly reading everyone's input to my timeline, when up came a comment from the lovely @madamding about how she was intending on having a Nigel Slater recipe that evening, for "Mustard & Lemon Sausages".  Well, that intrigued me as I'm always in the market for a new sausage recipe.

Very graciously, she provided me with a link to where the original recipe was to be found so that I could decide whether to give it a go.  Having read through the incredibly simple ingredients list and method, it became one of those "just has to be done" recipes.  This is mainly because I have a quite similar and delicious recipe for Gammon steaks, which involves Whole Grain Mustard and Orange zest and juice.  (Which can be found here).  This recipe involves the same Whole Grain Mustard, but with honey, Dijon mustard and lemon juice.

Regrettably, because of personal commitments, Mrs M (@madamding) couldn't do the recipe when she was intending to, so I'm hoping very much that I've not beaten her to it where blogging it is concerned!

Anyway, fingers crossed and here goes.  "Mustard and Lemon Sausages" is a wonderful dish on all sorts of levels.  The sauce/glaze begins life being incredibly acidic, but undergoes some magical transformation as the sausages cook and the mixture reduces.  Out goes the acidity and in comes a lovely soft richness, with a rounded sweetness that isn't too much.  It may sound a tiny bit odd, but I found the sauce/glaze goes extremely well with mashed potato - so a forkful that comprised of a piece of sausage, a dollop of mashed potato and a swoop of sauce is just delightful.

However, one of its very great attractions is that it will be able to join my battalion of "quick and easy" dishes, which as a disabled cook, are always good to have up your sleeve for those not-so-good days.

Needless to say, I've tweaked the recipe a tiny bit.  However, it's just the quantities of the mustard that I've changed, in order to render it a bit more affordable when you've just spent an arm and a leg on two jars of (fairly) expensive Maille mustards, instead of your usual fare of Supermarket own brand and the quantity of honey, with a view towards the mildly diabetic in the family!

Oh yes, and I'd recommend using just a plain pork sausage, as I think you'd find some of the fancier flavours would clash.

MUSTARD & LEMON SAUSAGES  (Original recipe by Nigel Slater : feeds 3)

Ingredients

 
8 plump pork sausages
2 heaped tsp grain mustard
1 heaped tsp smooth Dijon mustard
3 heaped tsp runny honey1 lemon, juiced

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven at 200C/400F/Gas 6.

2. Put the sausages in a roasting tin large enough to take them in a single layer. If they overlap, they won’t cook properly.

3. In a bowl mix the mustards, honey and lemon juice. Stir well and pour over all the sausages.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rolling the sausages over in the honey and mustard mixture once or twice during cooking, so that they eventually take on a sticky, glossy coat.

Serve with mashed potato, sugar snap peas and carrots.

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