Sausage rolls

Jaime Oliver did a simple sausage roll recipe in his 30 minute meals series, and received rave reviews from cooking blogs so I thought for my upcoming picnic, I'd be able to whip this out on the morning of the picnic in under 30 minutes (plus baking time!) I was so wrong - it took me 1.5 hours, because I made an error and had to undo the first batch, and also because I was going really slowly so as not to spill stuff here and there and then have do a huge clean up afterwards! He's got a clean up crew - I don't!

I found the best pictoral preparation blog entry was this one: Dine at Mine http://dineatmine.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/sausage-rolls.html

I didn't exactly follow the blog so here's my interpretation.

Ingredients (I made 24 out of this but the recipe says you can make 20)
1 packet of chipolata sausages (12 inside)
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 egg and splash of milk
2 sheets of store bought puff pastry, thawed
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method (best to refer to the Dine at Mine's photos)
1) Unroll the puff pastry sheet and place on a lightly floured surface. Cut 1 sheet of puff pastry in two.
2) Near the edge of 1 sheet, place 4 sausages diagonally (I only used 4 because I found it too full to close up if I followed the recipe and put 6).
3) In a pestle and mortar, pound up the coriander and fennel. Sprinkle over the sausages.
4) Sprinkle the cheese over the sausages.
3) Fold over the pastry and seal the edges with a bit of egg wash and use the twines of the fork to crimp them down.
4) Brush with egg wash and scatter the sesame seeds on top.
5) Cut each roll into about 5 or 6  x 10 cm pieces.
6) Transfer each sausage roll onto a parchment paper and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 220 deg C or until golden brown.

(Not quite) Toad in the Hole

I got the inspiration to do Toad in the Hole from OnePotChef. Here's the original link. 

The recipe is pretty simple but I modified it to include mushrooms and my home grown herbs - the first cut!

Ingredients (serves 4)

16 cocktail British sausages

4 tbsp oil (I can't say for sure, but I basically coated my Pyrex and it had about 0.7cm depth of oil left over)

3/4 cup plain flour

1 1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

1/4 chopped fresh herbs

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 pinch salt

Method

1) Preheat oven to 220 deg C. Pour the oil into the baking dish and coat the sides well. Prepare the sausages by patting them dry.

2) Mix the ingredients for the batter. Sift the flour and add the pinch of salt.

3) In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients - beat the eggs and then add the milk.

4) Make a well in the centre of the flour. Slowly pour in the wet mixture, making sure to stir in. Lastly, add the chopped herbs and mushroom, and fold in to incorporate.

5) Put the baking dish with the oil in the oven for 10 minutes to heat up the oil. Once it is hot (preferably smoking), add the sausages. They should sizzle. Bake for 10 minutes.

6) Take out the pan and turn the sausages. Pour the batter around the sausages. It should sizzle.

7) Put it back into the oven and turn down the temperature to 200 deg C. It should cook for another 20 to 25 minutes. Just check to ensure it is golden brown on top and frothing inside (that's the beauty of Pyrex!) Garnish with parsley and serve with gravy and mashed potato if you're so British!

Sausage cassarole

Inspired by bread and butter pudding. The easiest and probably not the healthiest thing to make but its sure fast and instant on a week day night. And highly satisfying too! Ingredients 1 can of Campbells soup (the only canned soup I'll ever drink) 6 slices of bread 1 can of sausages, drained 1/4 cup milk A lot of butter 4 slices of cheese (alternatively, use 1 cup of shredded cheese) Method 1) Mix the canned soup concentrate with the milk. You might want to add more liquid depending on how thin the liquid is. Too thick and its too salty. Too thin and its too runny. 2) This is mostly an assembly piece. Lay half the bread at the bottom. Dot on some butter. Pour on enough soup to cover the bread. 3) Slice the sausages lenghtwise and lay them on top of the break. Top up with more soup and dot with more butter. 4) Cover with the top layer with remaining bread. 5) Finish off with the remaining bread and finally the cheese. Dot on with more butter if you like. Pour over the remaining soup. 6) Leave to stand for 10 minutes for the soup to absorb into the bread. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 deg C. 7) Bake at 200 deg C for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese has melted and is bubbling. Serve immediately with a side of salad. Note: Its extremely sloppy and hard to wash up, so you might want to line the baking dish or just use a buttered casserole dish.

Honey mustard sausages

Thanks to the honey chicken recipe from Auntie Helen, I decided to improvise, simply because I wasn't about to fry chicken and oily up my kitchen!

Just for the record, her recipe involves marinating chicken in light soya sauce, then deep frying the chicken till cooked, then taking it out and putting it in another pan, pouring over honey and stir frying till the honey has melted but just before it burns.

My recipe is similar - except I grill my sausages, and just as they're almost cooked, I pour on 1 tbsp of mustard, and stir fry to incorporate. Next, I pour on the honey (about 2 tbsp for 1 packet of 10 sausages) and quickly stir fry to incorporate. Just as the honey melts (sizzles and turns a nice brown), I remove them from the heat and serve them up. Simple and delicious!

Nigella Feasts: One Pan Sage & Onion & Sausage

1 large onion or 2 small onions
1/2 cup olive oil (not extra-virgin)
2 teaspoons English mustard
1 tablespoon dried sage
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 lemon
1 (4-pound) chicken, jointed into 10 pieces
12 sausages
2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, chopped
Peel and cut the onion into eighths, and put into a freezer bag with the oil, mustard, dried sage, a good grinding of pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Cut lemon in half, squeeze juice into bag, and then cut the halves into eighths and add them. Squidge everything around to mix (the mustard needs help to combine) and then add the chicken pieces. Leave to marinade in the refrigerator overnight, or for up to 2 days.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature in its marinade.
Arrange the chicken pieces in a roasting tin skin side up with the marinade, including all the bits and pieces, and tuck the sausages around them. Sprinkle the fresh sage leaves over the chicken and sausages and then put the tin into the oven to cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the sausages over half way through to color them evenly.
Arrange the chicken and sausages on a large platter.

Chinese paella

I'm a cooking programme junkie. Lately, I watched an old episode of Jamie Oliver in Oliver's Twist and watched him as he brought a Brazilian friend home and tried to prepare authentic Brazilian stew - with a Jamie twist, of course. In particular, 1 dish actually reminded me Chinese cooking. He started off with Brazilian sausages (which look surprisingly like lap cheong), fried them off, then poured in some spare ribs for browning and topping off with other liquids. I also watched a recent episode of Kelly Kwong and saw her fry fried rice, which I've not done for a long time simply because I've not had leftover rice for a long time ever since I discovered the microwave rice cooker. Last night, I watched an episode of Chef At Home and saw Michael Smith prepare something involving basmati rice.

Suddenly I felt inspired - I dusted off my old paella pan and this is that I did:

Ingredients

1 packet chicken balls (too lazy to go and debone chicken thigh and cut into cubes, and don't like using chicken breast because it's very dry)

1 carrot, diced

8 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in 1/2 cup of hot water

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 cup of rice, washed and drained

2 lap cheong, cut into circles

oil for frying

Method

1) Pour the oil into a heated paella pan. Fry off the lap cheong. Once the oil has started to melt and ooze out, add the onions and fry until soft. Add the carrots and fry briefly for about a minute.

2) Drain the mushrooms and slice up. Reserve the water from soaking the mushrooms.

3) Add the crushed garlic, rice and mushrooms to the pan, and briefly fry to incorporate.

4) Pour back the water used for soaking mushrooms, and add another 1 and 1/2 cups of water (ie total 1 cup rice = 2 cups water). Pat down ingredients without stirring the rice too much or the grains will break. Bring to boil.

5) Cover and leave on a slow simmer for about 20 mins until the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked and fluffy.

6) Serve immediately in the paella pan.

No oil arrabiata

Traditional arrabiata in my mind always comes about too oily and too fiery. I'm really not a fan of oily stuff, and it's always hard to get the proportions of oil right.

However, last week, I came across a particularly tomoto-ey version by CBTL, with a nice tomato-based sauce and served with nice chorizo sausages for that smokey taste - hey why not!

Here's my recreation, made slightly sweeter cos B doesn't like sour stuff (ie he hates tomatoes) and also less spicy for me. I added barley because I usually find my sauces too thin - the barley gave the sauce a good 'saucy' consistency, and the barley texture gave it a nice mealy texture. The bonus was that in the tomato base, the texture and feel made it taste like baked beans! Keep it overnight and see how the sausages and barley bloats up!
Ingredients (Serves 3)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can water
1 packet (about 10) chicken franks sausages (or chorizos if you have them), cut into chunks
3 tbls chopped garlic
3 tbls chilli flakes (more if you dare!)
1 tbls chopped onions
2 tbls barley
3 tbls ketchup
1 tsp granulated chicken stock (I use the squeezy packets so it's simplier)
4 tsp sugar
Grated black pepper
Oregano or Basil
2 tbls Olive oil
Pasta for 3
Grated parmesan

Method
1. Saute onions and olive oil. Add garlic but do not brown the garlic.
2. Saute the chicken franks.
3. Add the chilli flakes and stir fry briefly.
4. Pour in the canned tomatoes. Stir. Using the same can, fill up with water and pour into the pot.
5. Add the barley.
6. Season with oregano or basil, black pepper, tomato sauce and chicken stock.
7. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Taste and add salt if necessary. Usually the chicken franks add enough salt to the sauce for me.
8. Cook pasta as per instructions on the packet.
9. Serve with grated parmesan.

Cheesy french toast sausage casserole

It was a 'clean out the fridge' day again. Got bored with eating sandwiches, so though I'd give it a twist, adapted from the 'Bread and butter' pudding. Easy and quick to do!
Ingredients
Canned sausages
Margarine (optional)
2 - 3 eggs
3-4 slices of bread
Parmesan cheese, grated
Herbs to taste
Salt and pepper to taste (if required)

Method
1) Butter a casserole dish so the food won't get stuck. On a casserole dish, arrange the slices of bread to fit the bottom of the dish. If you like, you can cut off the crusts of the bread. Spread the margarine on both sides of the bread if you like. This makes the whole thing more 'buttery'.
2) Beat the egg and add salt/pepper to taste if required. Pour it over the bread and spread evenly to ensure that the bread is all evenly coated with the egg. Let it soak in for about 5 mins.
3) Sprinkle herbs over the bread (parsley, sage, thyme - whatever you like)
4) Slice the sausages length-wise into half and lay them on top of the bread.
5) Sprinkle grated cheese over the top.
6) Grill for 15 mins until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown.
7) Serve with a nice side of salad.

Sausages

My favourite food! And I know I'm not alone. There are so many variations - the Germans have their Weiners and Frankfurters, the Italians have their salami, the British have their bangers and chipolatas (affectionately also known as 'chips'), the Mexicans have their chorizo and us Chinese have our unimaginatively-named Chinese sausages (or lap cheong).

Doing a Wikipedia search boggles the mind - there are so many types (it runs in the hundreds) of sausages and they are actually classified into categories such as cooked, cooked smoked, fresh, fresh smoked, dry etc!

But throwing that all aside, I've had a long association with sausages. Since that 1st morsel I tasted in my school canteen - the lady pan fried what looked like normal canned cocktail sausages, but she was always able to make the crispy on the outside but not burnt, and melts-in-the-mouth on the inside. I began my life long search for the perfect sausage. To this day, I have never found the brand or the cooking method (does she boil them first?) that produces quite the same effect.

Thru the years, I used to think that all sausages looked the same - what I knew of as canned cocktail sausages. But then I went to UK and started eating their bangers which totally disgusted me. It had a horrible 'piggy' smell, was raw and liked to 'explode' (hence the name) and sacriledge of all sacriledge - they called them sausages too! I longed for a frankfurter!

Today I found my perfect chipolata - all this time I've been buying the wrong thing. I've been buying chicken chipolatas but by chance today I saw pork and tried them and I'm in heaven!

For me, I've had a life long love affair with frankfurters, can't go wrong with any one, but just the brand - have yet to find a brand that isn't overly salty when eaten neat. I remember in my ex-company, after a particularly tiring morning, all that I need to perk me up was to toss my frankfurters into the toaster oven with some hotdog bread, slap on the butter, cheese and mustard, toast the bread until the cheese melts, slap on the frankfurters and glugs of tomato and chilli and bring to mouth - absolute bliss! Enough to drive away any dark clouds.

But my life long quest for the perfect cocktail sausages isn't over. I hope to be rewarded one day.

Meanwhile, just to finish off with a bit of trivia:
The difference between a Full English Breakfast and a Big American Breakfast:

Full English: bacon, eggs, toast, bangers, baked beans, kidneys, grilled tomato, mushrooms, potatoes/hash brown/bubble & sqeak. The Scots vary it with black pudding or haggis.
Big American: bacon, eggs, sausages and toast with baked beans and hash brown

Hungry eh? ;)

Country Quiche

I have this love affair with quiches - I love eating them! I still remember my 1st encounter with them was in this tiny cafe in Banff in the beautiful Canadian Rockies. First time I saw it, I didn't know how to pronounce it, and called it 'quic-key'. I was promptly corrected by the server!

Since then, I've loved its custard-y texture together with the melt-in-your-mouth buttery crust. My search for the perfect quiche recipe ended when my kitchen goddess friend, DJ shared this one with me. Altho rather difficult to whip up for a quick dinner, it's great for those lazy weekend afternoons. Served best hot but also equally good cold with a salad, leftover quiche is great as a light dinner.

Tips
1) This works best in those wall-mounted ovens with a sliding oven tray which u can slide in and out. Pour the egg mixture into something with a spout, e.g. measuring jug or even tea pot. Pour only half the mixture into the pie base. After placing the pie on the sliding tray, pour in the remainder till you reach nearly the brim of the pie. Slide it in. No spillage! I made the mistake of thinking I had a fantastic sense of balance. Between sliding in a to-the-brim quiche and trying not to scald my hands on the sides of the oven, my egg mixture spilt all over the oven floor and charred nicely. I had a good hard time trying to scrub it out later.

2) The diameter of the pie pan is quite vital - Pie pan depths are usually quite standard. The ingredients are calculated so that after pouring in all the egg mixture, you will almost exactly reach the brim of the pie base. But even if things don't work out so exactly, you can just pour in as much egg mixture as it takes to almost reach the brim. Remember not to pour right up to the very brim or it will overflow, the egg mixture will rise just a bit.

Ingredients (Either 1 large quiche, or 4 small ones)
Short crust pastry
200g flour
200g butter
3 tbsp cold water

Filling
2 big onion, sliced
150g sausages, sliced
Pinch of nutmeg
50g green peas
1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
½ tbsp concentrated chicken stock

Egg mixture
3 eggs
150ml milk
Salt & pepper to taste

Method
1) Make short crust pastry by rolling flour and better until they resemble small bread crumbs. Combine into a ball and set aside in the fridge to rest for 20 mins.
2) In a pan, sauté the filling ingredients. Pour into the bowl containing the egg mixture and mix well.
3) Roll out the pastry into a 10” pan. Prick the base with a fork so that it doesn’t rise up during baking.
4) Pour in the filling.
5) Bake in the oven at 190 Degrees C for 25 – 30 mins or until golden brown.