Cumberland Casserole

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From the Snowy Peak District

 I was lucky enough to be taken away with my parents this Christmas. We spent a week in the snowy and icy Peak District in Derbyshire in England. My mother was born in the area and we still have some relations. It was wonderful to catch up with my aunt, uncle and cousin. I was filled in on some fascinating family history which has been lovingly traced by my uncle, right back to the mid 1700's! Amazing. We enjoyed many slow leisurely meals and long walks in the beautiful snow covered moors. All very idyllic and relaxing.

I made dinner for the family one evening. It being a holiday house I stuck to a simple supper. The inspiration came from a recipe by Tamasin Day-Lewis. I bought some Cumberland sausages from the local butcher. This butchers shop contained a staggering amount of pork pies. The back wall was lined 4 deep and 15 high. When we returned on Stephen's Day (Boxing Day in the UK) they were gone, all of them! I was amazed by the Christmas Pork Pie consumption of these Derbyshire Folk. I guess it must be a Christmas tradition. I was lucky enough to snap one up before they were all gone - and it must have been the best pork pie I've ever had. Perfect pastry, a little jelly on the meat and moist filling - perfect with some English mustard.

Ingredients

Serves 3

5 Cumberland Sausages - skins removed

3 rashers

1/4 of a head of green cabbage - finely sliced

4 potatoes - peeled and finely sliced

1/2 large onion (or 1 small) finely sliced

1 heaped tablespoon of grainy mustard

1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

1/2 pint of stock

A few small knobs of butter (it's Christmas)
Seasoning

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grill the rashers and cut into small pieces. In an oven proof dish make a layer of half of the cabbage, half the rashers and half the onion. Then top with the sausage meat - go on squish it out of the casing, it feels lovely! Make it into a rough layer. Top this with the grainy mustard and thyme. Then add the remaining cabbage, rashers and onion. Pour over your stock and a good grind of black pepper. Then top with the potato layer. Cover your dish with it's lid (or tin foil if you don't have a lid. The stock should be coming up past the first layer of cabbage and the sausage. As longs as the potatoes aren't covered it should be fine. Bake in the over for 1 hour and fifteen minutes. Top with freshly chopped parsley before serving with some steamed veg.

This is a lovely non-nonsense supper, that is really delicious despite it's modest ingredients. Greater than the sum of it's elements let's say. Quick and simple to put together and forget about while it bubbles away - yumbo!

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Sausage and Lentil Supper

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Oh, Nigel!

Nigel Slater, I think I love you. Seriously, I love Nigel. Hes better than all of them, Jamie, Anthony, obviously, Hugh Fernley Whathisface, and even though it pains me to say it, he is better than Delia and even my idol Nigella. Everything he does is so amazingly simple and delicious, and he has an uncanny way of matching flavours and textures in the most basic ingredients so that his recipes sometimes look boring on paper but always work out spectacularly. His food is clean and frugal, but somehow at the same time luxurious and he uses way less fat and cream than Nigella, who, as fabulous as she is can go a bit over the top sometimes.

So I try and cook something from Nigel's Observer food column as often as possible, we've done his super delicious Lemon Posset before. A few weeks ago, Lu and I made this. True to form, it was amazing. AMAZING. You have to cook it. We stuck religiously to the recipe so I have just copied and pasted it from the observer website below. The pic is ours though.

Sausage and Lentil Supper

I make bean and sausage hotpots for winter weekends, leaving them to putter away in a slow oven until everyone comes in, freezing and begging to be fed. During the week I'd like to come back to that sort of thing, too, so I use this quick version. The parsley is crucial, as is a good meaty sausage. Serves 4.

2 tbsp olive oil

120g streaky bacon, diced

1 onion

1 large carrot

a rib of celery

300g green lentils

1 litre chicken stock

2 bay leaves

8 plump pork sausages

chopped parsley

Warm the oil in a deep, heavy casserole. Put the bacon in and let it cook over a medium heat so it colours lightly. Meanwhile, peel the onion, chop it finely and add to the bacon. Cut the carrot and celery into rough dice, and stir them in, letting them soften a little. Don't let them colour. Tip in the lentils, pour in the chicken stock, then tuck in the bay leaves and sausages, cut into short lengths if you prefer, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat so the liquid simmers gently, season, then leave it for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. Check the seasoning (I like it peppery), and stir in a handful of chopped parsley.

Isn't he lovely?

Andouille Catastrophe (Tripe Sausage Bad)

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FAIL!

We bought tripe sausage from the most well concealed shop in the Loire Valley.

It's very hard to find anywhere open to buy food on Sundays in France, I'd venture to say nearly impossible, so it was getting late on the Saturday and we were getting very worried that we may starve the following day. When we spotted a shop in a small town, given away only by a small crate of melons outside the door, and alone cat mewing....... I tried to make a kind of stew I did not work out well The End Enjoy the pictures!

Hopeful Doubtful Yuck-ful

Bangers and Mash – with roast onion gravy

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Bangers and Mash – with roast onion gravy

It’s been a long hung-over Friday in work, so what better way to treat it than with bangers and mash and a movie – I won’t bore you with details on how to grill a sausage or mash potatoes – except that Rayne added in some strong mustard which gave it a bit more body. So here’s the recipe for the gravy.

Ingredients
4 med onions, thinly sliced in moons
2 tablespoons of veg. oil
1 heaped teaspoon grainy mustard
1 table spoon of honey
Salt & Pepper
1 servingspoon of flour
1 servingspoon of butter

Coat onions in oil and then mix in salt, pepper, mustard and honey – pop into a hot oven for1/2 hour till they are getting black around the edges – only some of the onions now, not all of them.

Melt butter into a pan – and then stir in the flour – then add in the onions and coat thoroughly. Gradually add water until you get a nice sauce – sirring all the time to avoid lumps. All to simmer gently for a few minutes – taste and season accordingly. It’s incredible how dark the gravy will get with just the natural colour from the browned/blacked onions.

Spoon over of a bed of mustard mash with nice big thick butchers sausages – mmmm mmmm good, as the little Bisto guy would say.


I would say ‘Up yours, Bisto kid’ but they’re too cute