First off, I apologize for the radio silence over the weekend. I had the best intentions of writing up a
post or two on either side of yesterday’s marathon, but, well, I’d forgotten how
taxing marathons can be. So let me just
say that Saturday night’s meal was a carb-loading feast at our local chili
joint, and last night’s meal was a hastily put-together plate of nachos. Because the spirit was willing, but the body
was weak!
Anyway, what better recovery meal on Post-Marathon Day One
than vegetarian bangers and mash? LeeLee
requested this dish a couple of weeks ago and it took me awhile to find
vegetarian gravy (our Safeway never carries a veggie version, and Whole Foods
seems to stock it only as the holidays loom large!), so this meal had to circle
the airport until I was able to obtain all the ingredients. Mission accomplished by last week’s end, and
so off we went this week into the wild English yonder!
I confess I’d never made bangers and mash before, so I had
to consult the trusty Internet for ideas as to how to put it all together. I finally settled on a recipe from
Allrecipes.com that piqued my interest, and I must say, it didn’t disappoint!
First, I peeled and diced some of our hand-picked potatoes and
then set them to boil. As they boiled, I
heated up four links of Field Roast apple-sage sausage in a small frying pan,
and once they were nice and brown, I removed them and added in some diced
onion. After the onion started turning
translucent, I added some of that hard-won gravy in and let it thicken up –
adding some pepper and garlic powder to taste, because I find that store-bought
gravy often needs a little dressing-up!
By this point, the potatoes were ready to be drained and
mashed, which I simply did with a potato masher. (Also, let me just take a moment to say how
much I love that little potato masher, which is going on 15 years of service by
this point! Bless it.) Then it was time to assemble the casserole –
first a layer of gravy, then the four sausage links, then another layer of
gravy, and finally a layer of mashed potatoes.
Into the oven it went for 20 minutes at 350, and by the time it emerged,
the potatoes were crispy on top and the meal was ready!
As the bangers and mash finished up, I steamed a bag of
frozen peas and carrots to add as a side item, which turned out to be a great
fit! They didn’t need any dressing up at
all to be so fresh and tasty – a perfect accouterment to the main course.
The result?
Success! LeeLee was thrilled to
enjoy bangers and mash here at home, and I was pleased by how easy and quick
this meal was to come together – especially today, when I didn’t have much
extra energy (or leg power!) to spare.
We’ll definitely make this one again!
:)
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