Sausage Casserole Recipe (Vegan)

In this post I will be doing the recipe for a simple, vegan sausage casserole

Ingredients: Vegan Sausages - Linda McCartney

One red onion

Oil of your choice - I chose Sunflower

Potatoes

Tomato Puree

Schwartz Sausage Casserole Mix

Four carrots

Two Peppers (One red and One green)

Mushrooms (I used four)

Optional Ingredients: Soy Milk

Vegan Butter

Spices

Gravy Granules

Cornflour

Broccoli & Cabbage

Step one: Set a large frying pan on a low heat with a little oil of your choice, I used sunflower oil. Place your sausages on a baking tray and put them into the oven for around 15 minutes. While the pan is heating up and the sausages are in the oven, dice one red onion and then put these into the pan once heated until they have cooked through. 

Step Two: Whilst the onions are cooking, proceed to chop your potatoes. I peel and then chop my into small chunks as this makes the process of boiling and then mashing a lot easier and quicker. Once these are cut, rinse them in a colander to get rid of any excess starch. Then boil the potatoes for around 15 minutes.

Step Three: By this point your onion should be pretty much cooked. To make the sauce for your casserole you can make one from scratch if you wish but I used a store bought packet. To a large, deep pan, add your onions, the packet of spices for the sauce (I used schwartz brand) then 2 tablespoons of tomato puree and the amount of water specified on the packet of the casserole packet, I added 300ml. Bring this to the boil and then simmer.

Step Four: While your sauce is coming to the boil, take your sausages out of the oven and let them cool for a few moments while you peel and chop the carrots, after this chop up your sausages into small pieces (about four pieces) but place the sausages to the side.

Step Five: Put the chopped carrots into the pan with the casserole sauce to cook on a medium heat, make sure to give it a good stir at the very beginning and then just come back and stir again every so often to prevent it from burning or sticking on the bottom of the pan - although if this does happen it would not affect the taste of the dish (I didn't stir mine and it stuck to the bottom)

Step Six: After you have put the carrots into the pan containing the sauce, check on the potatoes. I usually rinse them again to rid them of anymore starch which may have come out during the cooking process. After this I begin to mash the potatoes, adding a splash of soy milk and a little bit of vegan butter (I use Vitalife) this is optional but it makes the mash much creamier.

Step Seven: Chop up your peppers and mushrooms, leave these to the side with your sausages.

Step Eight: To the casserole I added my own mix of extra spices: Thyme, Rosemary, Basil and ground corriander. Next I also added two heaped tea spoonfuls of Bisto Gravy Granules and one teaspoon of cornflour, the original (Red box) bisto gravy granules are accidentally vegan - the process of adding this to the mix helps to thicken it up. 

Step Nine: After around half an hour, check how the carrots are doing my carefully fishing out one small piece of carrot. I cut the piece in half for the initial test if it is crunchy then put both halves back in the pan and leave it for another 5 minutes then come back to check again. I repeat the same test again, chop a piece in half - if the carrot slice cuts easily and is cooked then put one half back into the pot then eat the other half, this way you can taste test the carrot to ensure it is cooked and the taste of the sauce. 

Step Ten: Once you are certain everything is cooked you can add in the other veggies and the sausages.

I usually leave this for another 10 minutes so that the sausages, peppers and mushrooms can soak up all the flavours. The last part is to cook and prepare anything you will be pairing with your casserole, for example: the mash from earlier, just double check that it is smooth and fluffy, I also cooked broccoli and cabbage with mine, dark greens go really well with sausage casserole. 

Step Eleven: Once everything is cooked, you can serve this with the mash you made and your greens. 

Hope you enjoy!

Charlotte x

Instagram: @Chvrlottee

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