Before I became a pescetarian, I honestly could not understand why vegetarians and vegans would eat fake meat products. I felt like it was silly to eat something that looks like what you are against. Now though, I completely get it. Sometimes you just want to eat meat because at the end of the day it's what it is made off that is off putting not the fake meat itself. A sausage, burger or even mice doesn't exactly look like a cow, pig or lamb. Using fake meat can just make cooking easier especially if you are new to the diet. I have found a lot of people, vegetarians/vegans and even meat eaters like quorn mince, but I am not a massive fan. It has all the texture of mince, but for some reason I find it off putting. Now Linda McCartney's sausages are the first fake meat that I have honestly loved. Even my meat-eating boyfriend thinks they are good. My favourite are the original ones and they pair perfectly with this vegetable casserole.
Autumn weather is definitely making me crave soups, casseroles and curries. Anything hearty, warm and packed full of vegetables is on my food planner for this week. This one definitely screams autumn, and it has been perfect as a packed lunch. I have already made it twice since I first tried out the recipe. If you are a meat-eater, I would encourage you to try some veggie sausage alternatives like the Linda McCartney ones. If you are in the US, Field Roast's Smoked Apple and Sage sausages are amazing! Of course meat sausages would work as well. I would suggest English-style like pork and apple. This casserole can be made in a short or long version. The short version is delicious, but cooking the casserole for longer will richen the flavours.
Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
1 yellow onion, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large courgette, chopped into bite-sized pieces
150g of mushrooms, sliced into half cm pieces
1 tbsp dried sage
300ml of vegetable stock
6 vegetarian/vegan sausages
juice of half a lemon
1 can, 400ml of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste
Optional topping: feta cheese (obviously makes it not vegan)
Preparation Approximate cooking time: 30 minutes OR 1 hour and 30 minutes
Quick Version
- In a large frying pan, sauté your chopped chopped onions and minced garlic in the oil.
- Once translucent, add the rest of your vegetables: mushroom and courgettes.
- Once the vegetables start to soften, add your dried sage, stir into the vegetables.
- Then, add the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer.
- Whilst the rest of the casserole is simmering, cook your sausages until golden brown on either side in a separate pan on a medium high heat.
- Add the juice of half a lemon, the tin of tomatoes and the balsamic vinegar. Stir well.
- Cut the sausages into bite-sized chunks before placing them into the casserole.
- Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve with couscous (as pictured), pasta, mashed potato or a lovely slice of fresh bread.
- Enjoy!
OR
Long Version
Follow steps 1-4 above. Now instead of cooking the sausages whilst the casserole is simmering and adding the straight away, wait. I found that simmering the casserole (without the sausages) for an hour really helps develop the flavours of the dish. In this case you will want add another 100ml of stock to prevent the sausage from going dry. You can simmer the stew for only 30 minutes if that is what you have time for, but I think an hour is ideal. After the hour has passed, follow on from step 5.
