Sausage, Squash & Broccoli Wraps

A perfect meal for when you aren't in the mood for cooking. I went to the dentist yesterday so was feeling sorry for myself and a little sore. For lunch, The Bloke made me a lovely chicken soup which was so comforting (recipe here).

When it came to the evening I was in a little less pain and able to eat properly again, but still not really in the mood to put in much effort, so I made an old favourite of ours. Sausage, squash & broccoli baked in a roasting tray with garlic and sage and left it cook itself. A couple of wraps and a yoghurt sauce and it was ready.

Ingredients:       (serves 2)

6 large pork sausages
1/2 head broccoli
1/2 squash, peeled
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced thickly
4-5 cloves garlic, skin on
drizzle olive oil
1 red chilli, sliced thinly (optional)
few leaves sage, chopped (optional)
pack of flour tortillas

Get a small roasting tray ready and set the oven to 170 C. Cut the broccoli and squash into strips. Put into the tray with the red pepper, onion and garlic. Cut the sausages into bite size and add to the top. Sprinkle over the chilli and sage (if using), drizzle with very little olive oil and season with salt & black pepper. Toss together lightly.

Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook, uncovered for a further 20 minutes to brown the sausages and veg.

For the yoghurt sauce:

1 cup natural low fat yoghurt
1 tsp. garlic powder
small handful fresh coriander, chopped

Combine the yoghurt, garlic powder and coriander in a bowl and serve with the sausage bake in the tray along with a few flour tortilla. Wrap up and enjoy!

Note: I keep the skins on the garlic, its a bit of a personal preference, but you can pop the roasted garlic out of the skin if preferred.

Quick Chocolate & Strawberry Tart

The strawberries in the garden are just beginning to get there.. not quite though. Maybe a few more weeks before we can walk around the garden picking the juiciest ones to eat as we stand there. However, the local shop to me has them and they were two packs for the price of one. So of course, I got them. And made the simplest dessert out there.

Of course, you can make the pastry case; I often do. But not always. And I had a pre-made pastry case that I bought recently, just waiting to be filled. So I grabbed the four other ingredients I needed and made this Chocolate & Strawberry Tart.

All you need is:

1 cooked pastry case
200g chocolate (dark or milk)
240ml double cream
Strawberries

Put the cream into a saucepan and heat until warn but not boiling. Add the chocolate and take off the heat, stirring until the chocolate has melted into the cream. Pour onto the pastry case. Leave to one side while you cut the strawberries in half.

Place the strawberries, cut side down, in a nice pattern on the chocolate. Chill for 30 mins before serving with more cream. Quick, easy and delicious!

Brazilian Feijoada with Farofa

The Bloke has been working nights recently and I wasn't expecting him home at all last night, but work finished early and he phoned to say he would be home at 9pm. I hadn't planned to cook anything for myself - but now I would! The only meat I had defrosted was some stewing beef so I figured I would make a casserole. I then looked in the food cupboard and a tin of black beans took me where I knew I had to go. Brazil.

After a little research I decided on Brazils National Dish of Feijoada which I have actually heard of but never tasted before. I know you are meant to use dried black beans but I had the tinned black beans, so in this case decided to use them. I had all the other ingredients to make it, but then noticed that they often make a topping. Now you can make this dish without the topping but I wanted to be as authentic as I could so I ran to the local international food store (I am so lucky to have one close by) to buy some cassava flour to be able to make the topping - Farofa. Not the easiest product to find - I was lucky, but you can substitute with breadcrumbs. So here we have it. Brazilian Feijoada with Farofa with rice, cabbage and habanero sauce. Delicious!

For the Feijoada:

400g casserole steak
100g cooking chorizo
4 bay leaves
2 red chillies (as hot as you like)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped finely
400g tin black beans

Chop the steak and chorizo and add to a large pot. Add the bay leaves, chillies and half of the garlic. Add enough water to cover and bring to the boil. Then set to a simmer and leave covered for about 2 hours (check occasionally to stir).

Fry the remaining garlic and the onion in oil until browning. Add to the casserole along with the tin of black beans. Include the water that the beans are in too. Give it a good stir and leave to cook on low for a further 30 minutes.

Serve with steamed white rice, stir fried cabbage or greens and a dash of habanero sauce. If you want to make the Farofa topping - here is the recipe:

Farofa:

40g butter
1 small onion, chopped finely
few rashers streaky bacon, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup cassava flour
20g fresh parsley, chopped
salt

Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onion, garlic and bacon. Fry on a high heat until cooked and then add the cassava flour. Mix in thoroughly until it looks a bit like breadcrumbs. Add some salt and the parsley. You can make this ahead and have it ready to put on top of the casserole.

Steam some rice, stir fry some cabbage and serve with a large wedge of orange. When you squeeze over the orange - it comes alive with flavour! Enjoy.