Easy Sausage Casserole

Nothing looks sadder than a couple of lonely carrots, half a green pepper or some slightly less crunchy celery left in the fridge. The temptation to ditch is great - but RESIST!

To avoid throwing out vegetables that are still good, even if they are not quite as fresh as they once were, consider turning them into a casserole or hot pot. This is a great way to use up leftover veg.

If you have a slow cooker, you can throw everything in at once and leave it to cook itself while you are out or at work. This can be very cost-effective. However, for people without one of these, creating a casserole can traditionally mean using up a lot of gas or electricity. I therefore created this 30-minute bake as good way of part-roasting the food before turning it into a casserole, so the flavouring is still strong and the vegetables are soft while the meat is well cooked within 25-30 minutes. It might not be traditional, but it is cheap, easy to make, and can be very filling.

Vegetarians can pack out the ingredients by adding two cups of lentils, which will bulk up the dinner so that it is filling. Simply soften the lentils first by boiling for a few minutes in water before adding them to the vegetables. Obviously the vegetable version costs less than the meat version, but for the meat-lovers, here's my recipe for a basic sausage casserole (serves four).

You will need: 
1 pack of sausages. I used Tesco's British Butcher's Cumberland Sausages for £1.50 but you can get cheaper versions. I often buy on a deal and freeze them; defrost them thoroughly before cooking.
2 Carrots
2 Parsnips (or Bell Peppers, Cabbage, Peas, etc)
4 Celery sticks (I buy a whole head/stalk of celery as it lasts longer than pre-cut packaged ones, and it goes further for less money)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 brown onion
Some seasoning - basic/value stock cube, pepper, salt, oregano (I have a huge bag of this from the Greek relatives).
A dash or two of olive oil

How to:
Chop the onion roughly - leave it chunky - and put into a Pyrex or other oven dish with the olive oil. Clean and chop the celery, and add it to the onion.
Clean and cut the carrots and parsnips into thin dials and add to the celery and onion.
Chop up each sausage into half. Add these to the dish.
Add the seasoning.
Put into the oven for about 15 minutes on a 160 heat, so the meat starts to cook and the vegetables start to roast.
After 15 minutes, take out, add the tin of chopped tomatoes, and stir thoroughly. Add two-three tablespoons of water to the mixture, to make sure it is moist and covering all the other ingredients.
Put in for a further 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven, until the sausages are cooked through.

Serve, and enjoy!

Salmon and Feta Leftover Pie

Watching television programmes such as The War on Waste about people throwing perfectly good food and clothes away makes me angry.

I have never been a wastrel. I was not brought up to consume without conscience. Moreover I was also blessed with an imagination which has helped me make the most of whatever leftovers and remnants I could find in my home.

It does not take a genius to work out that supermarkets want you to throw good food away instead of pickling it or freezing it, because their business model depends on the relentless spend, spend, spend of the consumer.

So this Sunday I decided to cook a two-course meal using only leftovers or 'out of date' food. The menu was: Salmon and Feta layer pie with filo pastry, and a spicy bread and butter pudding. I'll do the pudding separately because I'm lazy when it comes to posting stuff. Honesty, eh?

The date of eating was Sunday 15 November. It's now Tuesday 17th and we're both still alive and hearty, thank you very much!

Indeed, I have never seen this recipe anywhere before and so I believe what you are about to read is a world exclusive - the finest luxury leftover pie for you to try yourself. It really was tasty - light on the palate yet packed full of punchy flavour.

Salmon and Feta pie. Made with love - and leftovers

Ingredients:

Loch Fyne Smoked Salmon - Frozen on day of purchase (August). Consumed: November

1/2 pack of Feta cheese - use by date 30 October. Consumed: November

1/3 pack of mushrooms - use by date 6 November

1/2 tin Heinz Mushroom soup - October 2015 use by date 

One onion, use-by date 30 October. Still hard, dry and firm thanks to a good fridge.

6 sheets of Filo pastry, found secreted in the back of the freezer since March 2015

Teaspoon of dried Saffron, found in my husband's possession, dated June 2012. Yes, 2012.

Salt

Pepper

Home-grown chives and parsley (obviously these were in-date)

Well, I have NEVER seen a recipe for this, and I have never made this before so I was basically making this recipe up out of my own head. So it was complete trial and error. 

NOTE: I am sure the smoked salmon can be swapped for a tin of salmon. So give it a go.

How to: 

Prepare the pastry

Defrost the pastry slowly (DO NOT MICROWAVE IT INTO FROSTLESS SUBMISSION)

Carefully peel the layers and fold a first layer into a lightly oiled square pyrex cooking dish. Mine is a square 13'inch by 5inch deep pan.

Brush lightly with oil.

Make the filling

Chop the onion finely and add to a pan with some olive oil. Stir until a little brown.

Clean and chop the mushrooms, add these to the pan along with the seasoning. Add garlic to taste.

Add the salmon, making sure to stir well for three minutes. 

Add the mushroom soup, stir well for another minute.

Chop and add the feta cheese, stir gently and remove from the heat.

Layer a little of the salmon and feta filling onto the bottom sheet of filo pastry.

Add another layer of pastry on top of this as if it were a lasagna, repeat the process until all the filling has been used up.

Layer the remaining filo pastry over the top, brush with olive oil and a little paprika or herbs of your choice, and bake for c.20 minutes at 180 degrees.

And there you have it. It served four (so we ate the rest on Monday). We served it the first day with a Greek Salad made by hubby and the following day with carrots (which were also two days past the use by date!) and peas. For hints on how to keep carrots crispy and crunchy, see here.

Let me know how your version turned out - and if you swapped any ingredients with great success! 

Food Hack #98: Get that Salad Dressed!

Cheat's salad dressing

Do you ever have an urge to eat salad when you get in from work? You do? Crazy child. But who am I to judge? In fact I am here to help. If you have any leftover honey or Dijon mustard in a jar, here is how to create your own vinaigrette dressing cheaply and quickly.

Let's face it, paying £3 for an upmarket, home-style dressing is just nonsense when you can do it yourself for free!

Ingredients
Honey
Dijon or other grainy mustard
Vinegar
Olive Oil

How-To
If you have a smattering of runny honey left in a jar, add a few teaspoonfuls of Dijon mustard. Likewise if you have some Dijon mustard left in a jar, add a few teaspoonfuls of clear runny honey.

Then add a few ml of olive oil - about two teaspoonfuls, and a few dashes of red wine or white wine vinegar, replace the lid and shake what your mother gave you, and well.

Once it has all mixed together, et voila! You have a delicious salad dressing made up of leftovers.