salt and black pepper to taste
Note - all of the vegetables can be prepared and tossed together well ahead of time, cover and chill. Add the dressing at the last minute before serving and sprinkle on the almonds.

I picked up some really nice looking fat and juicy bangers (otherwise known as sausages) at the local butchers the other day, and could hardly wait to cook them. You can tell a good butcher by his sausages you know! I was eager to see if our local butcher was up to scratch!

I just love a good sausage, which is strange, because . . . when I was a child I absolutely hated them! My mom always got the cheapest ones going, and once in while you might get a piece of gristle or bone in them. As soon as it touched my teeth, it made me want to gag. There was no way you could get me near a sausage with a ten foot pole!



As an adult I have come to appreciate a really good quality sausage . . . fat, moist and meaty, with not a lot of fillers, and a wonderfully, somewhat coarse texture. Skin so *quality* that it almost snaps when you bite into it, and a good mix of spice to flavour them, depending on the variety you buy. My personal favourites happen to be Cumberland, which are nicely flavoured and peppery.



Anyways, I picked up some sausages from our local butchers and decided to cook them for our tea tonight. I wanted to create something delicious with them . . . not the usual bangers and mash, but a fry up that would use up some of the things in my fridge that needed using up NOW! ie. some cream left in a cream jug, a small piece of cabbage and some pasta that was soon going out of date. I also had some mustards living in the bottom of a couple of jars that I wanted to get rid of. They were taking up a lot of space in the fridge that I needed for other things.



I think I came up with a real cracker here! I had to write it down so that I wouldn't forget it and so that I can make it again. It turned that good!

Imagine little meaty bites of a well flavoured sausage, in a creamy sauce filled with not one . . . but two tasty mustards, caramelized onions and cabbage, and a rustic homestyle pasta . . . perfectly shaped to hug and soak in all those lovely juices.



Oh my but this was good. I may have the leftovers for brekki in the morning, and who could blame me!

Oh, and just for the record??? This local butcher is a real gem! I'm keeping him!



*Creamy Mustard Sausage and Pasta Hot Dish*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is delicious. You get the caramelized sweetness from the onions and cabbage, along with the spicy tang of two mustards, and the richness of a good Butcher's sausage and cream. Fantastic!

a good glug of a well flavoured olive oil
4 medium onions, peeled and sliced
1/4 of a firm head of cabbage, trimmed and thinly sliced
6 good quality fat Butcher's sausages, skinned
a small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped coarsely
1 heaped TBS of Dijon mustard
1 heaped TBS  of grainy mustard
300ml of double cream (about 1 1/3 cups)
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
half a pound of pasta shapes, such as conchiglie or cicatelli

Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed skillet. Add the onions and cabbage. Cook and stir, until they begin to wilt and become very sweet. You want them nice and soft and golden. If it helps, pop a lid on and let them steam/fry for a good ten minutes or so. When the vegetables have caramelized, add the sausage meat torn into chunks. Cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned all over and sticky as well. Stir in the mustards and cream, mixing in well. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Stir in the parsley, cover and take off the heat. Set aside, while the pasta cooks.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions in some lightly salted boiling water. Scoop the cooked pasta out of the water and right into the pan with the sausage mixture. Give it a good stir to coat. Taste and adjust seasoning once more as needed. Serve immediately. ( Don't worry if a bit of the pasta water gets into the pan, this adds to the sauce, just so long as it's not a lot. You don't want it to be too thin.) Scrummily moreish!

We all have those days, especially near the end of the week, when we think we are running low on supplies and have nothing to cook. With the way the economy is going, these days are going to be happening more and more often!



This is the time to make a hearty soup! Just perfect for using up all those bits and bobs that are sitting in the vegetable crisper. You know a few cabbage leaves, a sad looking carrot, some onion, celery and a piece of leek, perhaps a few spinach leaves . . .

If you have some beans and tomatoes in the cupboard so much the better!



With a bit of stock, a few herbs, some buttery toast and a fresh grating of Parmesan you have a tasty meal fit for a king. Hearty and filling, and oh-so-delicious!

You can even use that stale bit of french bread for the toast . . . it really adds a scrumptious extra element to a wonderfully hearty and comforting dish! These kinds of meals are some of my favourites!



*Clean Out the Fridge Soup*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is one of those tasty soups that come together at the end of a week using what bits and bobs you have leftover in the fridge. Delicious!

1 (415g) tin of cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
Olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 fat cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 stalk of celery, trimmed and sliced thinly
1 leek, the white and light green part, chopped
1/4 of a small white cabbage, finely sliced
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
a handful of fresh spinach leaves
3 or 4 savoy cabbage leaves, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp of dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp of dried sage leaves
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
250ml of chopped tomatoes with chilies (1 cup)
750ml of chicken or vegetable stock
sea salt and black pepper to taste
To serve:
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
fresh buttered toast, preferably from a rustic loaf

Splash some olive oil in a large saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery. Sweat and stir over medium low heat for about 10 minutes. Toss in the leek and white cabbage. Sweat and stir for another 10 minutes or so. Toss in the garlic and potato. Stir and cook for a couple minutes, then add the tomatoes, beans. and herbs, along with the stock. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and cook for about 25 minutes. Add the savoy cabbage and spinach. Cook for a few more minutes, until softened. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper as required.

Place the toast into heated wide and shallow bowls. Ladle the hot soup over top. Sprinkle with some freshly grated Parmesan Cheese. Serve immediately.

Add the oil to an oven safe skillet.   Heat over medium high heat just until it shimmers.  Add the bratwurst and onions.  Cook, stirring until the sausage is browned and the onions are softened.   Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant.Stir in the cabbage and potatoes.  Cook, stirring for a few minutes.  Season and then add the chicken stock.  Bring to the boil, then reduce to a slow simmer.  Cover and cook until the potatoes are fork tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.   Gently stir in the cream and half of the cheese.  Heat through.




Turn on the grill.  Scatter the remaining cheese over top of the mixture in the pan and then pop under the grill until the cheese is melted and bubbling and beginning to brown lightly.  Remove and serve.

Spam was not something which we ever had when I was growing up.  I am not sure why that was.  We never had tinned meat of any kind except for deviled ham, which my mother sometimes bought to make our sandwiches for lunch with.  It came in a tin which was placed inside a paper wrapper decorated with little red devils.  I am not sure, but I think the devils somehow made it taste better!



The one and only tme I can remember ever enountering Spam was at school.  A boy in my class wanted to trade his Spam sandwiches with my peanut butter ones.   I wouldn't trade because I did not know what Spam was and I was a bit afraid of trying something that I had never had before.   Besides, I really liked peanut butter.

 

I was very lucky.  I grew up in a country that was untouched by war in my lifetime and I had a father with a really good job.  People over here in the UK have not been that lucky.     Having been through two World Wars, and rationing, etc.  tinned meat is something which has pretty much been a staple on family tables for a long time.




I am ashamed to say I had never eaten it until I came over here, but I have to say . . . I quite like it actually!  You can buy the low fat one, and so it's not all that bad for you.  It's economical and quite tasty.   I made Spam Fritters last year and they were delicious.  When I saw a recipe recently on  unihomemaker.com  I just had to bookmark it to try here at home.  It looked really tasty.



I changed it a tiny bit.  I made use of store cupboard ingredients and used a pouch of the already cooked Uncle Ben's brown basamati rice that I always have in the cupboard and I added some shredded savoy cabbage both for colour and taste.  We like cabbage in our fried rice.



I also grated my carrot instead of cutting it into chunks, which meant it cooked much faster.   I was going to add some grated swede, but forgot.   Oh, and pineapple chunks.  I thought they would be really good, but it was bucketing down and the pineapple was out in the shed.  I didn't fancy getting wet.  But I reckon some pineapple chunks would go really well in this.  

 

In any case, I really hope that you will try this.  It's really, REALLY tasty and is now on our favourite list as Casa de Rayner.  I spose you could use leftover ham if you wanted to, but the Spam was really tasty.  In fact I am craving it again already.   I know . . . I'm such a glutton.




Beat the eggs and cream together.  Coat a large skillet lightly with olive oil and heat.   Dump in the eggs and quickly scramble them.  Remove the scrambled egg to a bowl and keep warm.  Add a bit more oil to the pan.   Add the spam and brown it well on all sides.   Scoop out and keep warm with the egg.  Add the chopped onions, garlic and shallot.   Cook to wilt and then add the carrots and cabbage.   Cook, stirring, until wilted.   Add the curry powder, salt, pepper and soy.   Stir in the rice and return the eggs and spam to the pan.   Stir in the frozen peas.  Heat through.  Check for seasoning and adjust as necessary.  Serve hot.



Did you know that the 3rd to the 9th March 2014 is Spam Appreciation week?  Neither did I, but it's official.  2014 is going to be a fab year to remember for the iconic meat SPAM ® Chopped Pork and Ham, as  the Monty Python gang reunite, and a whole new generation of people get to enjoy their humor and acquaint themselves with their favourite meat!  This is no better time to realize just how unique, tasty and versatile SPAM with it's incredible 75+ year history can be.

To honor and celebrate this special week, fans are again being asked to demonstrate their love of SPAM ® by uploading a video, photo, drawing, or even writing a short sentence to show their appreciation of SPAM ® products.  There are five theatre wekeend breaks to be won courtesy of Show and Stay, plus 100 runner up prizes.   The competition opened on the 20th of January and will be closing on the 28th February, 2914.  The best entries will then be displayed on
www. spam-uk.com for appreciation.

Here's the video that won last year's competition.



A few facts about SPAM®

• More then seven billion cans of SPAM products have been opened since it's launch in 1937
• They may only be islands, but Hawaii and Guam go crazy for the stuff.  In Aloha State more than 7 million of the products are sold per year and Hawaii even hosts its own SPAM JAM festival in Honolulu.  While in Guam an average of 16 SPAM ® products are consumed by every person per year.
• SPAM ® Chopped Pork and Ham is made from more than 90% prime shoulder pork and ham.
• Clebrity SPAM® fans include James May and Heston Blumenthal.
• In South Korea, SPAM ® Chopped Pork and Ham is considered a gourmet delicacy and is often given as a gift.

So now you know it all!

SPAM ®, it's not just a fad to follow . . . it's dinner.