Casseroles are up there in the leagues of ultimate comfort food. They are warming, easy to make and can feed a crowd, which makes them the perfect batch-cooking meal you can stow away in your freezer or whip out when you have lots of hungry mouths to feed. Casseroles are a simple dish which can easily be changed up.
This recipe is actually one I have adapted from a BBC Good Food recipe, the original which you can find here. I made mine vegetarian as I had a load of veggie sausages in the freezer which I wanted to use up. Below are some top tips for making this dish and some easy ways to mix it up. I don't usually write lengthy pieces before a recipe (because it's not my style of blogging - I like to get straight to the point!) but I felt this was needed. Feel free to scroll straight to the recipe otherwise!
Top Tips:
Gravy or stock: I won't lie, I used Bisto Best Gravy granules. You can use fresh gravy you have made or buy it from a shop. You can also use veg or chicken stock to make this, but you will need to add a little cornflour to thicken the casserole. I usually have homemade gravy in the freezer but for moments like this, I use Bisto.
Mash: Use the leftover oil from cooking the sausage to mix into your mashed potato. The flavor will be incredible. I used my homemade garlic butter in the mash also, for extra flavour.
Oil: any basic vegetable or rapeseed oil will do but for added flavour you can use a herb or garlic oil. I used my own garlic oil as there was no garlic mentioned in the original recipe
Taste: make sure you taste your casserole and add anything you think it needs. Also taste the mash and add more butter/oil/seasoning if you think it needs it
Make it vegan:
Ensure the veggie sausages are vegan friendly
If using stock, use vegetable & if using gravy, make sure its a Vegan one
Use only oil to bind your mashed potato and leave out the parmesan topping!
Make it meaty:
Use any type of meaty sausage you like. I would recommend Lincolnshire, venison/red wine or pork & apple sausages
Use a fresh meat gravy, chicken is advised by the BBC Good Food recipe, but I made mine with Bisto Best Beef Gravy!
Veggie Sausage Casserole
Serves 6
Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 35 mins
Preheat oven/grill to 200℃
Special equipment needed:
Large casserole pan
Frying pan
Colander or sieve
Grater
Masher
Ingredients
500g Rainbow Chard
500g Leeks
9 Sausages
2kg Baking Potatoes
50g Butter
2 tbsp Wholegrain Mustard
500ml Gravy or Veg Stock
Salt & Pepper to taste
Oil for frying
50g Parmesan, grated
Eat on its own or with some buttered seasonal veg
Method:
Dice the potatoes into 2cm cubes, leaving the skin on. Rinse the potatoes them place into a large pan and cover with cold water
Bring this pan to the boil and cook the potatoes until they are tender enough to fall off a knife when prodded
Drain the potatoes and return to the pan with the butter and the oil leftover from cooking the sausages
Mash the potatoes until smooth and set aside
Whilst the potatoes are boiling you can make your casserole: roughly slice the chard and thinly slice the leeks into rounds
Heat a drizzle of oil in a large casserole pan and begin to brown off the chard and leeks
Once they have a light golden colour to them, add a dash 100ml of boiling water and simmer until the water has almost gone
Meanwhile, slice the sausages into 1cm thick rounds and brown these off in a hot frying pan in a little oil
Once browned, add these to your leeks and chard
Add in the mustard and gravy/stock. Make sure you taste the casserole at this stage and decide if you would like more salt, pepper or mustard
Use the mashed potatoes to top your casserole then cover with grated Parmesan and bake or grill until golden
and remember, anyone can cook!