I was conscious that I hadn't posted any pictures yet. 

Here's the aforementioned casserole.  In this one I used finely diced carrots and some leeks (instead of onions).

I will tell you how "om nom nom" it is later.

 

A note about weights and measures:

This is a casual blog about food.  I'm afraid it's not my intention to provide you with a masterclass recipe.  If anyone is actually reading this then I want you to use your intuition when you cook.  127g of this and a quarter teaspoon of that are all great (if you are baking).  This is cooking though, and quite frankly, its not a science.  

Weights and measures are going to be added when I think they are necessary.  Otherwise, please be organic - assess what you are using ingredient-wise.  If I said to add 5 cloves of garlic but you happen to be using the most garlicky effusive toulouse sausages then I suggest you curb your garlic enthusiasm.

Please use your nonce. 

Sausage Casserole - Spanish Stylie

I was speaking to a friend the other day.  They had 12 people over for dinner and requested some possible easy-cook recipes.  I mentioned the possibility of sausage casserole and the response I got was, "oh I don't want to be cheap".  For me, a sausage casserole is the pinnacle of pork decadence.

There are, of course, many ways to enjoy the succulence of a decent banger.  Simply fried in the pan, or under the grill is a splendid way of encouraging them to yield their unctuous fatty rewards.  Slow-cooking them after you have briefly grilled them though leads to a teasingly friable digit that can be eaten with the blunt edge of a spoon.

I have tinkered with this recipe and used various methods and ingredients.  Indeed you can pretty much use this recipe as a conduit to get rid of things languishing in the back of the fridge.  Fennel works especially well in this - its haunting aniseed flavour pleasingly combining with the coarse grain of the salty sausage.  I have used stocks (chicken and vegetable) and wine to intensify the main gravy, but you can simply top it up with water too - it works fine.

One thing that I definitely insist on though (for that Spanish kick) is some punchy smoked paprika.  Dulce (sweet) or the fiery version of this pimenton work, but I prefer the hotter one personally.

We have had mixed results in our herb garden.  We simply cannot curtail the rosemary bush, and our thyme equally excels.  Flat leaf parsley, coriander and basil though, seem to dislike the distant reaches of suburbia and will not thrive.  Freshly picked thyme works wonders in this casserole - you don't even need to shred the leaves.  A few twiggy branches of the heady stuff will catalyze the flavours perfectly.

Here's a bare bones recipe (you can tailor it to your own design) - I will post a picture of the finished product this evening:

• Fry the sausages (decent butchers ones) in a thick-bottomed pan until they are nicely browned.  Remove them.
• One large or 2 medium onions chopped.  Add them into the pan with some olive oil.
• Garlic.  Lots of it.  5 or 6 cloves, roughly chopped.  In it goes.
• Add whatever you like now - some fennel, peppers or potatoes.  It works equally well just with garlic and onions though.  Fry them off to soften - just.
• Preheat oven to 140 Celcius.
• Add a tin of plum tomatoes.  Season.  
• Add some fresh thyme.  Sticks attached if you are lazy.
• 3/4 tsp of smoked paprika.
• You can add some red wine if you like, though this is not necessary.  It does intensify the gravy though.  If you don't add wine then add a big glass of water (about 500ml).
• Stick a lid on.  Put it into the oven.  Cook for 1.5-2hrs.

Eat it served with a nice cheeky Spanish.  And by that I mean a decent temperanillo or garnacha, not someone called Miguel who has an annoying habit of poking you.

Flatbread Fetish

So, it's February 2012.  I always fancied myself as a bit of a writer, a bit of a geezer, a bit "weeyyyyy" a bit "woooooooah".  But I never actually had the cojones to do it.  

I've got a little bit of time on my hands at the moment.  I'm a man of leisure without a job - well, not a real job, one where you wake up in the morning, jump on a train and smell someone else's armpit until you arrive in London Waterloo.

I thought I'd combine two things.  One that I _know_ I like doing - cooking.  And one that I think I like doing but haven't really tried yet - writing.

The aim of this blog is rather selfish really.  I want to start cataloging the recipes and cooking trends that I am currently enjoying.  It's funny.  I get the "oh you like cooking?  Whats your favourite recipe?" scenario often.  It's quite similar to trying to decide what flavour of crisps you prefer.  I don't have a favourite recipe (or a favourite flavour of crisps come to that).  Sometimes I want to melt into the oozing warmth of a freshly cooked shepherds pie.  Sometimes I want to cauterize my tongue with some bhulot jokia infused mayhem.

I'm currently experiencing a serious flatbread craze.  I'm a huge fan of the Moro ethos (www.moro.co.uk).  I love the sentiments towards simplicity, freshness and simply "what works".  I've used their flatbread recipe to make anything from pizza bases to pitta pockets to wraps.  Its seriously easy, requires almost no proving and within 30 minutes yields 6-8 super tasty flatbreads.  Here's how you do it:

• Use a decent flour, organic at least, fill a bowl with 200g or so.

• Mix 3/4 tsp of quick yeast with some warm water (about 80ml or so) 

• Tip the yeast water into the bowl.  Use your index finger only (a bit like a dough hook attachment) mix in the water.  

• Add some finely crushed sea salt to taste.  Add a good slug of decent extra virgin olive oil.

• Mix until you get a nice consistency of dough - then knead it until it begins to relax and become soft and pillowy (usually 5-10mins).

• You can prove this dough for 30-60 mins if you like but its not essential.

• Cut into 7 or 8 balls.  Flatten each ball out on a floured surface.

• Heat a heavy frying pan until it gets really hot.  Slap the disc of dough on.  You'll see bubbles form on the dough - flip it.  20-30 seconds on the other side and its done.

Repeat for the other balls.

Whilst we're on the subject of baking lets talk about something that pushed me to the brink of baking insanity.  Yeast - it's got a use-by date!  I never knew this and for a while used OOD yeast and wondered why the hell I wasn't getting any rise!!  I keep my yeast in the fridge now and keep a carefully attentive eye on the use-by date.