Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Sausage Casserole Pasta Bake Recipe

Sunday's are cooking days. Experimental kitchen club shall we say. One freezing cold Sunday (hello Spring), sausages were the source of inspiration.

Trying to create something completely delicious and healthy-ish isn't an easy task when it comes to sausages. Casserole helps as it's chock full of vegetables. The pasta on top replaces any buttery mash potato and is much more re-heat friendly if you're making a massive batch.

First up, shopping. The joy about this is most of the ingredients will already be in your fridge / cupboard. I had the sausages in the freezer so had these defrosting the day before. Other ingredients you will need:

1) Tomatoes (tinned will work well, fresh could also work)
2) Sausages - use good quality ones if you can, these are farmers market Keeble's bramley apple sausages
3) Two medium/large onions
4) Mushrooms
5) Garlic
6) Broccoli
7) Pasta shapes (I used spaghetti, as it's what was in the cupboard)
8) Fresh herbs (Parsley in this case)
9) Cheese (I used lighter Cathedral City)
10) Oil and stock (You can just about see a Knorr Stock pot on top of the tomatoes!)

So first thing's first:
1) Chop your onions and mushrooms - feel free to do this roughly precise is not the name of the name in this dish. I left some of the mushrooms whole, some halved, some in slices...mix it up! Start to brown your onions and mushrooms in a good slug of oil.

2) Brown your sausages in a pan with another good slug of oil. I prefer chilli but any will do. Get your oven on at this stage to around 180 Degrees C

3) Add some garlic to your onion and mushroom mixture that is going nice and brown by now. At this point also measure out your spaghetti and get this on the boil to soften.


4) To the mushroom and onion mix add your tinned tomatoes and stir it up. once you have a nice tomatoey consistency add your stock pot. You are also going to want to season this well with salt (Malden Sea Salt if you have it) and some coarsely ground pepper.

5) Add some broccoli to your spaghetti which should be simmering away nicely.

6) Your sausages should be lovely and brown by now (we aren't cooking them through at this stage) so take them off the heat. Add some chopped parsley to your tomato mix, and give your spaghetti a stir (you are multi tasking ever so efficiently!)


7) Once your pasta is tender (not fully cooked) take everything off the heat and layer your dish. I'm using a large roasting dish as it is the perfect shape for laying out your sausages evenly, but use a proper casserole dish if you have it

8) To assemble, pour your vegetable mix on the bottom and spread evenly. lay out your sausages evenly spread apart (you don't want to be the unlucky one who gets no meat!) then pour your (drained...) pasta and broccoli mix on top and spread out evenly. I gave it all a little jig about here so some of the veg came to the top. Top all over with cheese





9) Bake in the oven for around 30-35 minutes. Keep an eye on it though, your cheese should go lovely and brown and the pasta right at the top slightly crunchy. Take a sausage out and chop in half - ensure it is cooked all the way through before removing completely from the oven.




10) Serve! I kept some broccoli on the side to serve with but if you're feeling naughty a nice hunk of garlic bread will do nicely!

Super easy, super tasty.
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2 comments:

  1. Garlic bread on pasta is really a great pick! I bet you have a great meal when you served this and I can imagine how satisfied your family members will be when they taste this. Well, I hope my pasta-loving partner will give this dish a try and he’ll be as satisfied as I am. Thanks for this post!

    -Dione Nye-

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