Sausage, squash and butter bean stew with hasselback potatoes recipe

Have I told you about so much I love having a kitchen again? I have? Well, in that case, maybe skip onto the next paragraph, because I'm going to have to go through it again. Oh, kitchen, I love you. I love having a washing machine back, and an oven, and a hob. Having been happily plunged back into a kitchened world, I've found myself trying to cook a bit more.

Maybe it was the long days at school, maybe it was a lack of inspiration, but I just couldn't face cooking before the kitchen got put out of action. In the month that it was up on bricks, I ate a lot of takeaways, a few tins of whatever (Amy's chilli happened a lot), and a lot of toast. By the time the builders were finished, I really fancied getting involved with cooking again. 

With the weather turning colder (well, sometimes), all I want to make is great big warming plates of stuff. The sort of stuff that you can eat in your PJs or with your back against the radiator watching Blue Planet II. The sort of stuff that you need a doorstop of bread to soak up. The sort of stuff you can cook without any effort, with half your brain thinking about revision. Despite a reasonably long list of ingredients, it's pretty easy to make. You just chuck stuff in the oven or a pan, stir it occasionally, and then eat it. No brain required. 

I got the idea for this from seeing a beautiful picture flash past on Twitter, but I can't remember what the recipe was for or who posted it. Whoever you were, random clever Twitterer, thank you for the inspiration.

Sausage, squash and butterbean stew with hasselback potatoes
Serves three or four 
Ingredients
Six to eight potatoes, around 100g each (a couple for each person should be good)
One onion, chopped finely
Two cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
One tablespoon of paprika
One half teaspoon chilli powder
Leaves from two large springs of rosemary, stripped from stalks and chopped finely
One tin of chopped tomatoes
250g of squash, diced (I used crown prince, but whatever you've got on hand is good with me)
One teaspoon of blackstrap molasses (or vegan sweetener/sugar of your choice)
Half a tin can's worth of veggie stock or vegan red wine
One tin of butterbeans, drained
One packet of vegan sausage (I used Taifun herb grill sausages)
Four or five large kale leaves, stalks removed, and chopped into thin strips

How you do it
Heat oven to 200 degrees C or 180C for a fan oven
Make cuts across the potatoes, 3mm or so between them, three-quarters of the way down. Don't cut all the way through, or your potatoes will fall apart, which would be a vegetable tragedy.
Once the spuds are in the oven and cooking heat some oil in a large saucepan, then add the onion and cook for 5 to 10 minutes over a medium heat until translucent.
Add the garlic, paprika, chilli powder, and rosemary, and cook for another minute or so.
Add the tinned tomatoes, squash, molasses, stock or wine, and butterbeans.
Cook for 15 minutes or so over a low simmer.
Add the sausages, and cook for for another 5 minutes.
Pop in the kale, and give the whole thing another 3 or so minutes on the heat (or just cook until the kale is wilted).
Spoon the stew into bowls, then top with a couple of potatoes for each bowl. 


Comments

  1. Well that would be about perfect to eat tonight, to add a little light to the gloomy, rainy, chilly gloom. The potatoes are so perfectly cut!

    Maybe you should post a couple of photos of the new kitchen so we can admire it with you. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks like all sorts of YUM!!!!!! Wowza!

    ReplyDelete
  3. yay for your functioning kitchen - am sure you are enjoying it - those hasselback potatoes look great in the stew - why do I never make them! Too hot today to contemplate putting on oven ever but who knows what the weather will be in a few days!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just knew I was going to see amazing food once your kitchen was back up and running. The stew proves it, love the look of the hasselback potatoes in there. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This looks delicious! And now I thank you for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't think I've ever made hasselback potatoes, so thank you for the inspiration. You are certainly putting your kitchen to good use and warming plates of food with your back to the radiator are a delight of winter.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Way to elevate the average potato isn't something special! It drives me crazy that they sell hassle back potatoes at Trader Joe's now... It's so simple to just cut a potato a few times, but on the other hand, I rarely think to do so. This is one stunning reminder.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts