Thursday, 25 February 2010

Sausage And Mixed Bean Casserole



Ingredients (For 2 People)

6 Pork and Beef Sausages
1 Mug of Dried Mixed Beans
1 Large Onion
2 cloves of Garlic
1 Vegetable Stock Cube
1 Large Maris Piper Potato
½ Teaspoon of Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon of Dried Mixed Herbs

Equipment you will need

1 Saucepan, Chopping Board, Sharp Knife, 1 Deep Roasting Tin, Frying Pan and Tin Foil.


Firstly

You will need to soak the mixed beans overnight in the water in the fridge. Now jumping forward 24hrs, put a pan of water on to boil and add a vegetable stock cube. Drain off any excess water from your pre soaked beans and wash thoroughly. Add the beans to the boiling water and wait for the beans to boil again and stir, when the beans are boiling turn them down to the lowest setting so there are just simmering. Leave these cooking for 15 minutes. Once these have had 15 minutes run cold water into the pan to cool, then drain. Chop the onion into chunks (I recommend 8’s) and do the same for the potato. Crush and chop the garlic and leave with the onion. Heat the frying pan with ½ teaspoon of olive oil and prick your sausages, add them to the frying pan and turn them occasionally to brown on all sides. Remove from the pan and leave them in your roasting tin.

Secondly

Turn your oven on to 130 degrees. Heat up the frying pan, add a little olive oil to the pan if necessary (there should be enough fats from the sausages), now add the onion, potato and the garlic. Fry these on a medium heat to soften the onion and the potato for about 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle the mixed herbs over the potato and add the mixed beans, add ½ mug of water and give this a good stir for another 5 mins. Now pour your mix from the pan over the sausages and cover with water. Put tin foil over your roasting tin and place in the oven for an hour.

Almost There

After half an hour of cooking check the liquid in your roasting tin. Now would be a good time to add water if necessary (note the liquid will help make a sauce for later). Add a little salt and a generous sprinkle of pepper (I prefer cracked black pepper). Cover and place back in the oven.

Service

The time has come to reap the harvest of the work you put in. Carefully remove the tin from the oven, remove the tin foil. Now you have to decide if the sauce is right for you, does it need to thicken slightly? If so you can use thickening granules or gravy granules. Give it a taste and now is the last chance to adjust the seasoning before you wow you guest with your Sausage and Mixed Bean Casserole. Serve in warm bowls, maybe with a chunk of warm crusty bread and Enjoy!