6 October 2012

* Italian Sausage & Cannellini Bean Casserole

Italian Sausgae and Cannellini Bean Casserole
When you keep a record of what you cook, in the form of a blog (or any other form), you slowly begin to realise that you have definite eating habits and penchants for certain foods... The evidence is right there in front of you, so cannot be denied.

Apparently I like beans.
And sausages.
And chocolate.

There's probably a recipe in there somewhere, but I'm not sure I'm the one to discover it.

The original joy at the evenings drawing in and being able to put the salad spinner away in favour of the crock pot - has faded. I'm fed up with it already and long for Summer. Mind you, I think the great British public are all longing for Summer, as we didn't actually get one this year. Or a Spring. Somewhere around April we were being told that we were in the midst of the worst drought in blah-blah years... and someone with a warped sense of humour must have been listening - because it started to rain and I have no memory of it stopping.

So... I decided to cook a casserole that had a taste of Summer in it.
No matter the weather. Only 8 more weeks and I'm going to Egypt.

Hah.

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Serves 3

Prep time - 5 minutes
Cooking time - 30 minutes

You will need
A medium frying pan/skillet with lid
A grill

Ingredients
6 Italian Style Sausages
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion - chopped
1 green pepper - sliced
2 cloves garlic - crushed
400g can chopped tomatoes
200ml passata
400g can cannellini beans - drained and rinsed
2 tbsp sun dried tomato paste/puree
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Grill the sausages under a medium grill until cooked.



While the sausages are grilling, in the frying pan heat the olive oil and soften the onion, pepper and garlic over a medium heat for about 8 minutes. It helps to pop the lid on.


Add the chopped tomatoes, passata and sun dried tomato paste and bring to a gentle simmer. Pop the lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes.


Cut the cooked sausages in half, at an angle (bias). Add the beans and thyme to the pan and stir through the tomatoes to combine - add the sausages and cook for a further couple of minutes until everything has heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.



Serve with brown rice or mashed potato.

8 comments :

  1. This looks gorgeous. Would be interested to know where you got your italian sausages.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankyou!

      I tend to grab Italian Sausages (or Italian *Style* Sausages) from either Morrisons or Waitrose, whenever they have them - then freeze them 'til I need them. They're one of those items that depend on whose doing the *buying* for the store at the time. We also have a pretty awesome food/farmers market come to Plymouth every so often - always a decent day out.

      If I can't get authentic ones, I choose a sausage that's as close as possible in it's flavourings - so no pork and bramley apple ones!

      Delete
  2. What is passata? And where can I find it? Thanks, Z

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello there - Passata is puréed fresh tomatoes (NOT tomato purée that you squeeze out of a tube ;) ), and should be available in most supermarkets. You can buy it in the UK in jars and cartons, but if not - just use the same amount of tinned, chopped tomatoes. They do more or less the same job but are slightly more tart.

    Sorry it took so long to reply! xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. My family loved this, especially my 14 month old :) We deviated a little by adding a bit of a Knorr's beef stock pot, a little ground cumin, and we topped it with fresh parsley to give it more depth. We will definitely make this again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and it's great that you you added your own flavours too, to make it your own :D xx

      Delete

Thanks for dropping in to read my recipes (and ramblings). I love it when you let me know what you think - so please leave a comment and I promise to take the time to reply!

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