Bangers & Smash

You’ve all heard of the famous British pub ‘grub’ Bangers & Mash, right? A plate of mashed potatoes with sausages served on top, smothered in gravy? Well, don’t even bother trying to make it here. You see, my 10 year old daughter doesn’t like mashed potato. Just one of the many things she won’t eat and hasn’t for the last nearly 9 years. As much as I’d love to just give her what she wants, I’m always thinking of ways to transform our regular meals into something she will eat. Normally she would’ve eaten the above sausages with a piece of bread wrapped around them and it would’ve been an ordeal watching her play with the carrots and broccoli for about an hour but I was totally surprised when she devoured these ‘smashed’ potatoes.

There was nothing to it really. Just peel and boil some potatoes in salted water then strain.

In the same pan, add butter and crushed garlic and ever so gently mash the potatoes until they are just starting to crumble.

Pop in a pan with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat.

As it starts to brown underneath, gently turn over the potatoes, trying to keep most of their shape. The soft ‘mushy’ bits are just glorious smothered in butter and garlic. (Well, I thought so.)

Cook up your favourite sausages and serve with a side of your ‘token’ vegetables. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

If you would’ve told me I had a child who wouldn’t eat mashed potato before I had kids I would’ve laughed my head off then lo and behold I went and had one. Mashed potato is the least of my problems. At least I ‘caught her out’ on this one.

Bangers & Smash

• sausages, grilled or fried
• potatoes, peeled, steamed or boiled
• garlic, crushed
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper
• butter
• other vegetables
• gravy (optional)

1. Once the potatoes have been boiled, strain and add butter and garlic to the same pan. (Depending on the number of potatoes you have cooked, I added about 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 cloves of crushed garlic to 4 potatoes.)
2. Gently toss potatoes in butter/garlic mixture.
3. Coat a pan with extra virgin olive oil and put pan on a medium heat.
4. Gently fry potatoes until they become golden brown on the bottom and turn over until golden brown all over.
5. Serve with cooked sausages and other vegetables of your choice. 
6. Gravy could be served as well.

Potato topped Sausage & Mushrooms

I had photos for this dish on my camera for a couple of months now and never got around to blogging about it. Even though it may not look all that appetising, it was one of those comforting dishes that goes down well on a cool night. I remember I didn’t have many potatoes left to make a mash so I sliced them really thinly and topped the whole lot with the sliced potatoes. This was so good. I just threw everything into a casserole dish and 30 minutes later dinner was served.

If it wasn’t for Keith aka The Reluctant Housedad’s Recipe Shed theme of sausages this week, I probably would’ve left this one alone. It’s quite simple, but tasty and really quick to put together.

Potato topped Sausages & Mushrooms

6 pork sausages
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 can diced Roma tomatoes
1 tbs sweet paprika
1 tbs thyme
salt and pepper
1 cup chicken stock
2 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
oil spray

1. ‘Snip’ uncooked sausages with scissors into bite sized pieces into a casserole dish.
2. Add mushroms, onion, garlic, tomatoes, paprika, thyme, stock, S&P and stir.
3. Place potato slices on top of meat/mushroom mixture, spray lightly with oil and bake in a 180 deg C oven for approx 30 mins. Serve with a side of green vegetables. (You could add vegies to the dish at the time of baking as well.)

To check out what everyone else is banging up with their bangers (sausages are also known as ‘bangers’ in the UK and Australia), pop on over to Keith’s blog and check them out.