A Little Saturday Morning Treat

A little Saturday morning treat of butchers sausage, posh baked beans and a toasted bagel. I'd love to say I've behaved this week, but my eating habits have been a little bit all over the place recently. I think I need to get myself back under control, I can already feel my jeans getting tight around the waist.

Simple Salisbury Steak

This is one of those American dishes that just makes for amazing comfort food. This is my take on it, I've kept it nice and simple whilst, hopefully, still having plenty of substance and flavour.

For the 'steaks' you will need:
500g minced beef
50g bread crumbs
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
pinch of salt and pepper
1 tsp vegetable oil (rapeseed oil)

For the sauce you will need:
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
100g mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp of butter (if needed)
2 tbsp plain flour
500ml beef stock
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
pinch of pepper

Method:
1. Add all the ingredients for the 'steaks' into a large bowl and mix, with your hands, until just combined. Do not over mix.
2. Divide the mix into 4 equal portions and form into oval shaped patties.
3. Warm the oil in a heavy frying pan over a high heat, add in the patties and cook for about 1 minute.
4. Turn the patties and cook for a further minute before removing from the pan and setting aside.
5. Add the onions and mushrooms into the pan and cook for 2 - 3 minutes.
6. Turn the heat down to medium, add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
7. If there's not a lot of oil left in the pan, add the butter and allow it to melt.
8. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.
9. Gradually add the beef stock, a little at a time, stirring constantly.
10. Stir in the worcestershire sauce and a good sizes pinch of pepper before adding the 'steaks' back into the pan and cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.

Notes:
Remove the steaks from the gravy and plate up with a good portion of mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables before spooning the gravy over the top.

Simple Roasted Sausage Dinner

This dish goes back to my basic laziness and inherent love of one pot cooking. It’s old school comfort food at it’s finest and to top it off it’s pretty quick, it’s very simple and, most of all, it’s extremely tasty.

You will need:
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 large onions, roughly chopped
2 red peppers, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp dry thyme
500g new potatoes, scrubbed and halved where necessary
12 butchers sausages
200ml chicken stock
Pinch of salt and pepper

Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
2. Add the ingredients, except the stock, salt and pepper, into a large baking tray and turn until they are fully coated in the oil and thyme.
3. Spread the ingredients out into one even layer, ensuring that the sausages aren’t covered by any of the vegetables, and season with a little salt and plenty of pepper.
4. Roast for 30 - 35 minutes until the sausages have browned, remove from the oven, turn the sausages and toss the vegetables in the cooking juices. Add in the stock and roast for a further 20 minutes or until browned.

Notes:
I tend to just serve this as it is and it nearly always comes out well, but occasionally you can be left with excess cooking juices, these can simply be drained and thickened with a little cornflour slurry to make a quick and tasty gravy.