Heat the oil in a large saucepan.   Add the onion, shallot, carrot and celery.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion and celery have softened, without browning.  

When I was a child my family lived for a time in a small town situated on the shores of Lake Winnipeg about  two hours North of Winnipeg city itself.  I have really lovely memories of the time that we lived there.  The first house that we lived in was a duplex bungalow.  Our neighbors on the one side were the Dukemon (not sure about the spelling) family and Mr Dukemon often made this soup.  Borscht.  On the days that  he made this the amazing aroma of it would waft over to our house . . .  it smelled amazingly delicious.  I never got to actually taste it, but the smell of it was pretty tantalizing to my tiny tastebuds. Yes.  I was a foodie even then.

Red meat isn't something which we eat in this house very often.   I know we had that BBQ Beef Pie last week.  The week before I had made this French Onion Cottage Pie for a supper one night and it was fabulous.  I used my slow cooker and cooked the beef overnight so that it was fork tender, and the gravy was absolutely delicious.   I just used the method etc. that I normally use to do a pot roast in the slow cooker.  It worked out really well.

It's been colder than blazes this week.  Winter has finally arrived.  Not as cold as it gets in North America of course, but cold is relative.  It's a damp cold here and it feels positively frigid coz it gets right through to your bones!  It's soup season!

One of the favourite meals my mother used to make for our family when I was growing up was Cabbage Rolls.   My father loved the meat but not the cabbage.  

I loved the cabbage but not the meat, so we used to trade.  I'd give him my meat and he would give me his cabbage.  Everyone was happy.   Mom used to cook carrots and potatoes in the pot along with the cabbage rolls.  It was a rib sticking meal in one!



Cabbage and cabbage rolls remain a real favourite in my home to this day, although admittedly there are times when I am just craving the flavour of them but hesitate to make them as they are a LOT of work. 

 

There is a cabbage and sausage casserole I make which is called Stuffed Cabbage Trou Style and its just gorgeous.  

The other day I got to thinking . . . what if I used the same principle  except adapted it to use Cabbage roll flavours . . .  and we all know what happens then.  I just had to give it a go!



It turned out to be quite delicious!  I am so glad that I made it.  It was a lot less trouble than regular cabbage rolls, and yet it had the flavour of cabbage rolls, compacted into a round cake that you can cut into wedges.

 

You will want to use a good quality sausage with this.  I like Debbie & Andrew's Sausages myself.   They are meaty and organic and gluten free, and their Cumberland are just filled with flavour.  I like to know what is in my sausage and these are quite simply fabulous.  In any case I hope you will give this a go!  I think you will find it's delicious, simple to make and a real family pleaser.



 *Lazy Cabbage Roll Bake*

I think Bangers (sausages) and Mash has to be the Toddsters favourite meal of all that I cook for him.  He loves a good meaty sausage.  He love a nice pile of fluffy mash and  . . .  he adores a nice onion gravy.   This meal ticks all the boxes for him and he is a very happy camper when I make it for him!




It goes without saying that you will want a nice and well flavoured meaty sausage for this.  After all, it IS the star of the show!  Never ever opt for a cheap and nasty sausage.  When you go for cheap and nasty, that is what you get.  When it comes to sausages . . .  you DO get what you pay for.




Cheap sausages are overloaded with fillers and fat . . . gristly bits . . .  with almost a pasty texture, which almost makes me want to gag.  I want to feel like I am eating somehing meaty . . .  not wall paper paste and sawdust stuffed into a tube, and not a nice tube at that.



When you bite into a quality sausage the difference is immediately apparent . . .  when that skin snaps beneath your teeth and they sink into beautifully textured and flavourful meat, you have reached sausage heaven.  (Today I picked some sage from my garden and roasted it with the sausages.  It was gorgeous.  I love sage, it is one herb that winters very well in our garden.  Sage and Sausage are a marriage made in heaven.)



I am a real fan of Heck Sausages myself (and no I have not been paid to say that.  It's simply the truth).  But any of the higher end sausages you see in the shops are sure not to disappoint and a good butcher's sausage that you buy at the Butcher shop itself, cannot be beaten.  Our local shop does a lovely sausage with caramelized onions in it.  Fabulous.




Which brings me to the second part of this fabulous meal.   A great onion gravy!  You cannot beat a good onion gravy.  This one I am showing you today benefits with a long slow cooking of the onions and the addition of some good balsamic vinegar and a bit of brown sugar.  It's sooooo good ladled over the potatoes and sausage.




Of course the final layer of this trinity of good taste is the mash.   Use a good floury potato that will break down nicely when you mash it . . .  giving you nice and dry fluffy potato . . .  ready and willing to soak up that butter and warm milk without becoming soggy.  You will end up with light and fluffy . . .  the perfect back drop for all that lovely meat and gravy.  No wonder this is a favourite of Todds!


I like to serve these with a green vegetable on the side.  (Green beans, sprouts, peas, cabbage, etc.)

When we got up this morning it was -7*C  (which is about 19*F) so below freezing.   That's pretty cold, especially in our house where we don't have forced air heating, or a wood stove or a basement beneath the house, just cement and ground . . .  very old windows and not a lot of insulation.  It was pretty cold to say the least!

Brrr.... I think today must have been the coldest day so far this winter.  I just can't seem to get warm.  This calls for a nice hot pot of soup!  A delicious soup that will warm the bones.  A warm bowl of  soup on a hot winter's day is like a hug from heaven, don't you think?