Sausages . . .  or Bangers, no matter what you call them . . .  they are a real favourite in our home.  If there is one thing which the Toddster really loves it's a good Banger.   I completely adore British Bangers, but not all sausages are created equally.  

I like a quality banger . . .  well flavoured and meaty without a lot of nasty fillers, which is why I really like debbie & andrew's sausages.   This is sausage made the old fashioned way, using natural products and generous amounts of lean, juicy pork taken from the best cuts of meat produced on British farms. Provenance at it's very finest.  

 I have been busy creating a few recipes over the past few days to highlight the best of these quality bangers and I hope you will agree with me when I say that I did myself proud.  The first dish I did was a Savoury Sausage Breakfast Bake . . .



This is a simple breakfast casserole that comes in very handy when you are having overnight guests.   You put it together the night before and then leave it in the refrigerator overnight. 

It is ready to pop into the oven first thing in the  morning so that you can enjoy a leisurely beverage and some time with your guests instead of sweating it out in the kitchen.

 

You start by browning the sausage meat.   I simply slipped the skins off and then crumbled it into a hot pan to brown. 

 I used the caramelized red onion ones for this, but any of their varieties would work well in this. Even an ordinary breakfast sausage works well.



The browned sausage meat is then layered between flakey buttery croissants along with some sauteed mushrooms, spring onions and cheese, with an egg custard being poured over.

 

It bakes up with an almost souffle texture inside with a crispy croissant crust and delicious flavours within of that gorgeous sausage, veg and rich cheese.   I like to roast a few springs of vine ripened cherry tomatoes along side for the perfect garnish!

*Savoury Sausage Breakfast Bake*
Serves 4

Printable Recipe 

Buttery croissants stuffed with browned sausage,  cheese, mushrooms, spring onions and eggs. It needs to be made the night before so plan ahead. Fabulous!  

4 plain butter croissants

400g package of meaty, quality sausages (about a pound)

(I used Debbie and Andrew's Caramelized Red Onion Sausages)

250g punnet of closed cup mushrooms, sliced (2 cups)
one bunch of spring onions, washed, trimmed and sliced (about 6)
4 large free range eggs
250ml milk (1 cup)
salt and black pepper to season
4 ounces grated emmenthaler cheese (1 cup)
4 ounces grated mozzarella cheese (1 cup)
2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (1/4 cup)

Butter a large rectangular glass casserole dish. Split the croissants in half horizontally and place the bottom halves into the bottom of the casserole dish, cut side up.  Reserve the tops.

Remove the skins from the sausages.  Crumble them into a skillet and brown them all over until golden and cooked through.  Scoop out into a bowl and set aside.  Add the mushrooms to the drippings and cook, without disturbing, until they begin to brown.  Add the spring onions and cook until both are tender, stirring occasionally.  Set aside.



Beat together the eggs and the milk.  Season judiciously with salt and black pepper.  (Remember the cheese will add salt as will the meat.)  Pour half of this mixture over the croissant halves in the baking dish.  Top the croissants with the mushroom/onion mixture, crumbled sausage meat  and cheeses, dividing equally amongst the 4 croissants.  Lay the top halves of the croissants on top, cut side down, and then pour the remainder of the egg mixture over all.  Cover with cling film and place in the refrigerator overnight.

The next morning take out of the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the eggs are set and cooked through. (If it begins to brown too much, cover with foil.)  Serve immediately.  Delicious!



 The debbie & andrew's sausages which I used in this casserole were their Caramelized Red Onion Pork Sausages.   We love these, next to the cumberland they are our favourites. Made with select pork cuts, red onions are pan fried perfectly to caramelise for a really deep flavour, with muscovado sugar added to bring out the natural sticky sweetness as the onion reduces. 

To really get the taste buds going, Balsamic vinegar is added towards the end of the process, making the onions darker and even more delicious. That natural sweetness of the caramelized onions goes perfectly with the natural sweetness of pork, to create a really really tasty sausage.  !00% British Farmed pork, usig only Prime Cuts and created with passion.



The next recipe I created was a delicious Sausage, Kale and Sweet Potato Gratin.   Sausage and sweet potatoes go really well together!   I often make a sweet potato mash to serve with our bangers, so I thought that sweet potatoes would go perfectly in this easy and tasty gratin.



I chose to use debbie & andrew's cumberland sausages in this as I thought their delicious pepperiness would work really well.   I was right.  (I love it when that happens!)

 

Once again, I slipped the sausage meat out of the skins and browned it in a skillet, which I also used to  first ... steam the sweet potatoes, and then sautee them until light golden brown.



Some deliciously healthy kale (it's all the rage now) and a cheese sauce completed the gratin along with a cheese and crumb topping.  I really love LOVED this dish!  Rich, creamy, peppery, sweet and earthy.    This was a real treat.

 

*Sausage, Kale and Sweet Potato Gratin*

Serves 4

Printable Recipe 

This delicious gratin is loaded with lovely flavours and colour.   You will want to use a nice and flavourful sausage for this.  I used Debbie and Andrew's Cumberland Sausages.   You have the sweetness of the sweet potatoes, the spiciness of the sausage, the earthiness of the kale and a lucious cheese sauce, with a bit of buttery crunch on top.  What's not to like? 

400g of well flavoured, meaty quality sausages (a generous pound)

(I used Debbie and Andrew's Cumberland)

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 a (200g) bag of shredded kale (about 2 cups)

salt and black pepper to taste 

For the sauce:

2 TBS of butter

2 TBS flour

225ml of chicken stock (1 cup)

225ml of milk (1 cup)

salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

115g of grated gruyere cheese (1 cup) 

To finish:

6 salted crackers, crushed and mixed with 1 tsp melted butter

First make the sauce.  Melt the butter in a sauce pan.   Whisk in the flour.  Whisk together to combine and cook for one minute.  Whisk the stock and milk together.  Slowly whisk this mixture into the flour and butter.  Cook, whisking constanty, over medium low heat,  until the mixture boils and thickens.  Whisk in almost all of the cheese, reserving a small handful for the top.  Set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.   Remove the skins from the sausages and crumble them into the pan.  Brown all over, until no longer pink and cooked through.   Scoop out and set aside.  Add the sweet potatoes to the pan.  Toss to coat with the drippings.  Cover and allow to steam for about 10 minutes.  Remove the cover and continue to cook, until golden.  Add the kale and stir fry for several minutes.  Add the browned sausage and toss together.   Pour this mixture into a lightly buttered shallow baking dish.

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Pour the cream sauce over top of the mixture in the baking dish.   Mix the buttered cracker crumbs with the reserved cheese.  Sprinkle over top.  Bake the casserole for 15 to 20 minutes until bubbly and golden.   Serve warm.



The sausage I chose to use in this recipe was debbie & andrew's Perfect Cumberland Pork Sausages. To give this Cumberland a contemporary flavour, it is studded with green and pink peppercorns that provide a fresh quite floral taste alongside a good hit of heat. This sausage cooks up beautifully on the barbecue, is perfect for picnics and makes a delicious sausage supper.    100% pork, gluten, wheat and dairy free.

 

  My husband has been a pretty good boy lately and so I decided to make him a special treat today. He especially loves apple pie.  It's a real favourite with him. 

When it comes to apple turnovers, which are really just little apple pies, you don't get much nicer than a Dutch Apple Turnover.  Just my humble opinion.


 

It what you make when you don't have enough apples for a pie. Or when you don't feel like faffing about with one.  (I know . . .how lazy am I!!)  

I wanted to make him something that he would really enjoy, but I didn't want it to take a lot of effort on my part.



Not that he is not worth the effort. Aux contraire! I was just feeling particularly lazy!
I decided to make him some tasty Apple Turnovers. 

 But not just any Apple Turnovers . . . Dutch Apple Turnovers, filled with tart apple and sweet sultana raisins.

 

Sweetened with white and brown sugar, and lightly spiced with cinnamon, freshy grated nutmeg, cardamom and a tiny bit of cloves.   

Todd's mom always used cloves in her apple pies when he was growing up and he misses it if I don't add at least a little bit.

 

Flavoured with vanilla, rum and lemon extracts and dotted with butter to make the whole filling rich and a teensie bit decadent.

 

And then folded into ready rolled short crust pastry.  (That was the lazy part.)  If I am going to use ready roll though, I do use the all butter one.  No nasty trans fats . . . or at least I like to think there aren't!

 

Brushed with a bit of egg wash, and sprinkled with some cinnamon sugar . . . they are done after baking for about half an hour in a moderately hot oven.  

All scrummy and brown and smelling heavenly . . .

 

But that's not all . . . that's not all.  I like to drizzle a tart lemon drizzle icing over top.  Just to gild the lily you know.  

Oh so scrummy. It doesn't get much better than this!

 

*Dutch Apple Turnovers*
Makes 4
Printable Recipe

I think it's the sultanas that make these Dutch.  Doesn't matter, in any language they are fabulous!  (Easy to make too!)

1 large Granny Smith Apple, peeled, cored and chopped
a handful of sultana raisins
1 TBS golden caster sugar
1 TBS soft light brown sugar, packed
1 TBS plain flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cardamon
pinch ground cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rum extract
1/8 tsp lemon extract
4 tsp butter
1 375g package of ready rolled all butter short crust pastry

To glaze:
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 TBS water
1 TBS granulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5.  Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.  Lightly spritz with cooking spray.  Set aside.

Mix the chopped apple, raisins, sugars, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon, cloves, vanilla, run and lemon extracts in a bowl, stirring well together with a spoon.

Unroll the pastry and using a pastry cutter, cut into 4 equal sized squares.    (You may have a bit leftover, but use your ingenuity and make some jam tarts or something with this.  No need to waste it.)  Place one fourth of the apple filling onto one half of each square, slightly off centre.  Dot each with 1 tsp of butter, cut into bits.  Wet the edges all around with some water.  Fold half of the pastry over the filling to cover.  Pinch and seal the edges all around.  Place onto the prepared baking sheet.  Brush with the beaten egg yolk.  Mix together the sugar and cinnamon for the glaze and sprinkle evenly over top of the turnovers.  Take a sharp knive and carefully make a few vent cuts in the top of each without cutting through all the way to the bottom crust.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until cooked through, the filling is bubbling and the pastry is golden brown.  Allow to cool to lukewarm before serving.

Note:  If desired you can make a runny icing using about 1/2 cup of icing sugar and a bit of lemon juice to drizzle over top of the finished turnovers for a nice finish.

 

I bet you're wondering what I did with those two leftover bits of pastry that I couldn't use to make turnovers eh?  Well . . . I was very, very naughty.  

I spread them with butter, sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar, folded them in half, spread them with more butter and sprinkled them with more cinnamon sugar and folded them in half again.  

Then I sprinkled some final bits of scrummy cinnamon sugar over top and baked them right along with the turnovers.  I also drizzled the baked bits with some of that lovely lemon drizzle icing.

 

Oh my goodness . . . these were some good.  Sigh . . . I know, I am a very naughty girl.  ☺  

The only thing that could have made them any better is some cherry jam in the middle.  Oh my, oh my . . . sigh . . . 

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