Sausage casserole

Started eating before remembering to take a picture!


January is upon us, the end of the festive season has come and I'm sure many of us are looking to food that's comforting but not too rich on an already over-taxed stomach. This recipe is heavy on veg and flavour but light on fat and stodge, making it a great supper for post holiday-excess. I did cut corners a bit, as my favourite flavour for casseroles comes from packet soup, the kind you make in a cup with boiling water, rather than the traditional stock+tomato paste. I'll add an alternative though, for those who want to make it properly (or can't find any packet soup).


Sausage casserole

Serves 4 or can serve 6 if served with potatoes or bread.

Takes 1hr 15 minutes in total, including a lot of chopping.


2 packs of vegetarian sausages

2 trimmed leeks

2 large carrots

2 eating apples

4-5 sticks of celery

4-5 portabella mushrooms

800ml of water mixed with a tomato-y packet soup (I used Heinz vegetable)
- [alternative - use 800ml stock mixed with 2 heaped tsp tomato paste, 2 tsp herbs of your choice such as savory or thyme, 2 tbsp savoury sauce such as worecester]-

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp dried savory

If available, a packet of herbs for sausage casseroles is a nice addition, such as the Schwartz brand. This gets added to the liquid.


* Chop everything that looks like it needs chopping! All the veg needs to be in pretty small pieces, and the sausages I generally cut into 4 pieces. Heat some oil in a large pan.

* Fry the sausages until they are cooked (check the packet - usually 10 minutes or so) then put aside.

* Fry the leeks, garlic and savory for a few minutes until the leeks are soft but not brown.

* Add the mushrooms and the sausages again cook for 5 mintues.

* Chuck in everything else besides the liquid and fry for a further 10 minutes. If you haven't made your soup/stock yet then make it now.

* Pour in the liquid and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes.

Root vegetable soup with barley

Ah December. What a busy, overindulgent month! This is a recipe to soothe troubled tummies, as it is pleasant, yet also bland and comforting, being filling without being rich. It does take quite some effort to prepare the veg though, as they are woody, hard things, so make sure you have a good knife. It actually has a texture more akin to stew, so feel free to add some dumplings if you wish.


Root vegetable Soup with Barley

Serves 4

Takes about an hour to actually cook, but preparing the veg can easily take an extra 15 minutes


2 medium carrots

1 medium parsnip

1 leek, trimmed to leave mostly the white

1 small onion

1 small swede

100g dried pearl barley or other grain mix if you choose

1.2L of good vegetable stock

2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced (or 2 decent tsps of minced)

2 tsp dried herbs of your choice of - savory, thyme or rosemary

A splash of seasoning sauce, such as mushroom ketchup (the bottle just seen on the left in the picture)


* Scrub or peel the carrots or parsnips, peel the swede, peel the onion. Chop all the vegeables into neat little chunks around 1.5cm-2cm, except for the leek and onion which need to be sliced thinly.

* Heat some oil in a large pan, then fry the leek, onion, garlic and herbs for 5 minutes or until softened, but not coloured.

* Chuck in the rest of the vegetables and cook until slightly softened, around 10 minutes.

* Add the stock and the barley, bring to the boil, then simmer for around 40 minutes.

* After the time has passed, check to see that everything is tender. Mash the soup roughly with a potato masher and serve. Add the seasoning sauce into the individual bowls to taste.

Serve with a good bit of white bread.

Beetroot, tomato and goat's cheese soup

Almost a month has gone, wow. Lost the cooking flare a bit, but am getting more into now the weather has well and truly changed.
Beetroot soup! There are lots of things you can change in this recipe to suit your tastes, including swapping out the goat's cheese for something like feta or cream cheese and changing the herbs around. But here are the basics, and flavours which I believe work well together. It makes a thick, earthy soup that's tasty but not too rich. It's so easy to make, yet looks so sophisticated. You just can't beat (har har) that colour.

NOTE: Be very careful as beetroot is a potent dye. Clean up any spills immediately.


Beetroot, tomato and goat's cheese soup

Serves 4

Takes about 40 minutes


A ~550g bunch of beetroot

1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

1 medium red onion

150g goat's cheese

600ml good stock

2 cloves of garlic (chopped) or 2 tsp of minced garlic

2 tsp dried savory


* Peel, trim and chop the beets into small chunks. Chop the onion into small pieces

* In a big saucepan fry the onions and garlic for 5 mintues or until soft

* Add the beets, savory and stock and bring to the boil then simmer fr about 20 minutes or until your beets are soft. Season.

* Stir in your cheese (if it's creamy, stir until it's melted) then add the tomatoes and heat through.

* Use a hand blender or a food processor and blend, then serve. I usually don't blend my soups, but this really needed it.

Home baked beans

A rich, warming and ultimately quite healthy meal (if you ignore the sugar content) which is light enough to be followed by a dessert (less healthy). There are probably hundreds of recipes telling you how to bake your own beans, but this is one I liked. Cooking time varies enormously according to what equipment you use. I didn’t have the preferred casserole dish with a lid, so that cut the cooking time down by at least half. Also note that as well as being sweet, it’s also quite acidic due to the concentrated tomato. But don’t let that put you off too much – it’s delicious!

Home baked beans

Serves 4
Cooking time varies a lot – done my way it took 1.5 hours


2 x 400g tins of borlotti beans, drained

300ml passata (sieved tomatoes)

450ml vegetable stock

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tbsp molasses/black treacle

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp sun dried tomato paste (optional)

2 generous tsp of dried savory (optional, but yummy and an old remedy for
flatulence!)

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 160C


*Put all ingredients in a pan, cover and bring slowly to the boil on the hob.

*Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour (if using a covered dish, 1.5 hours covered and an extra 30mins uncovered). You want the sauce to be thick.

*Serve with hot, buttered toast, maybe with a sprinkling of cheese.