Cranberry Sausage Roll Garland

Sick of Black Friday deals yet? I actually thought it was last week because there were so many offers around, but then today morning my inbox has been rammed full of 'deals' to remind me that it is indeed today. Then, just as we think it's all over, then come the 'don't worry we've extended our Black Friday offers' and then Cyber Monday follows swiftly after. It's never ending. Who wishes we could go back to the time of January sales, when sales were in January and only in January.

If you're looking for a Black Friday deal here then I'm sorry to disappoint, but if you've come here looking for quick & easy home cooked food then you've come to the right place! 

Ta-da.

Ready made puff pastry with ready made sausages and cranberry sauce, all bundled together to make this sausage roll wreath which will be devoured in minutes at the family Boxing Day buffet or festive get together with friends.

I have a little confession to make about sausages. I buy a bag of 20 frozen sausages every week for 99p, and the family love them! My husband has never commented on a sausage as much as he's commented on these so now they get them every week in one of their favourite meals - bangers and mash, and I use frozen ready made mashed potato too!  Winning!

Yeah the sausages might not have a very high pork content, but they are a lot lower in fat than many other sausages, and they work perfectly in sausage rolls, so as long as everyone is happy and they enjoy eating them I'll continue to buy them. I'll still buy the lovely flavoured sausages for the bbq in the Summer, but when they all want 4 or 5 sausages (and more) for a meal, it's a lot more cost effective to buy these.

Sausage & Vegetable Bake

Weekdays can be pretty hectic and I often get home from the school run and haven't even had a thought about what I will cook for dinner. I'm a fan of one pot meals, and as the husband usually does the washing up he's a fan of them too!

This one pot meal can be started on the hob and then thrown into the oven to finish off whilst I get on with other things, like the never ending pile of washing, or writing up the next blog post.

Sausage & Vegetable Bake - serves 4/5

1 tbsp olive oil

750g sausages, cut into bite size pieces

1 red onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 green pepper, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

750g potatoes, diced

200ml vegetable stock

• Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof lidded pan
• Add the sausages and fry for 5 minutes until starting to brown
• Add the onion, garlic, peppers and potato
• Fry over a low heat for 10 minutes
• Add the stock and mix well
• Place the lid on and bake in a preheated 160C oven for around 45 minutes

For this dish I used a selection of Secret Sausages, which are vegetarian sausages made from fresh garden vegetables. They are 90% less fat, 50% fewer calories & 35% less salt than normal sausages - and 3 of them make one of your 5 a day!

For the month of November Secret Sausages will be supporting Movember, so don your tache and start cooking...

I was sent a selection of sausages free of charge

Fresh Ravioli with Sausage & Chorizo

In the penultimate #RespectThePasta challenge I have been asked to make ravioli from scratch. I've only ever made pasta from scratch once before, just a few weeks ago, in a lasagne. I rolled it a bit too thin so this time I made sure I left it a little thicker so that it didn't disintegrate completely in the pan.

I went for a simple filling of sausage and chorizo, and a very simple tomato sauce. There was a little of the sausage filling left over from the ravioli which I added to the sauce.

Fresh Ravioli with Sausage & Chorizo - serves 3-4

Pasta
200g '00' flour plus extra for dusting
2 large eggs

Filling
40g Chorizo, finely diced
4 good quality pork sausages

Sauce
glug of Extra Virgin olive oil
onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
handful of fresh basil
salt & pepper

• Make the pasta by stirring the eggs into the flour until it starts to come together
• Knead until smooth & elastic - this will take a while - it will be grainy at first and then smooth. At this point keep on kneading until it becomes more elastic
• Tightly wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 minutes
• In the meantime make the filling by frying the chorizo until the oil starts to come out
• Squeeze the sausagemeat from the casings and add to the pan, breaking the meat up
• Once cooked through set aside whilst you roll the pasta
• I used a Lakeland Pasta Machine to roll my pasta out, but you could do it by hand 
• Cut the dough in half and pass half through the machine until you reach the second to last setting (1-7 on the Lakeland machine). Repeat with the other half.
• Lay a sheet of pasta onto a floured work surface
• Spoon a little of the sausage filling along the pasta sheets in small mounds before placing another sheet on top
• Press the top sheet onto the bottom sheet around the filling to remove any air and seal around the edges
• Using a ravioli cutter cut the squares of ravioli out around the filling
• Leave the ravioli to dry out a little whilst making the sauce
• Add a glug of olive oil to a pan
• Add the onion and garlic and fry for 3 minutes
• Add the tinned tomatoes and half of the chopped basil
• Place a lid on and simmer for around 20 minutes
• Add the rest of the basil and season with salt & pepper
• Put a large pan of salted water on to boil
• Once boiling, add the ravioli (in batches if necessary)
• Boil for 3-4 minutes and spoon out into the sauce, tossing gently
• Serve immediately

I received a ravioli cutter and '00' flour from ASK Italian for the purpose of this challenge