... enjoying unseasonal food.

The title of this post is a bit misleading - the ingredients I used were seasonal, but the end result was not. I try generally to make food that suits the weather, but today, before I'd ventured -or even looked - outside, I decided I wanted sausage casserole for tea. Upon going out, I found that the weather was summery again, having been quite autumnal yesterday.

Obviously, the sensible thing to have done would have been making something lighter, but I had decided on casserole, and casserole we had!! The thing I love about stews generally is you can just chuck in what veg you have, and it always ends up being delicious!

Sausage casserole with herb dumplings

(herb dumpling recipe here)

before cooking

1tbsp olive oil

6 thick pork sausages, cut into small chunks

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 large onion, diced

2 large carrots, diced

8 large mushrooms, diced

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 pint stock (i used beef)

2tsp wholegrain mustard

1tbsp basil

1 tin chopped tomatoes

• heat oil in pan
• add sausages pieces and brown
• remove from pan, add to a casserole dish
• heat oven to 180c
• put veg in pan and cook till slightly soft
• add vinegar and cook till reduced, de-glazing pan
• add stock, tomatoes, herbs and mustard and cook for 5 mins
• make dumpling mixture and divide into 6 balls
• add sauce to casserole dish
• drop dumplings in
• cook, uncovered in oven for 30 mins
• turn dumpling over after 15 mins

This is tasty good, though quite sweet, so if anyone doesn't like sweet sauces, maybe add a bit of salt. I am quite glad I stuck to my unseasonal recipe.

I've promised Fay I'll post a homemade chicken kiev recipe, so I will do next week!