Sausage, Pumpkin, Potato and Halloumi Tray-Bake

A garlicky tray-bake in jewel colours that doesn't take long to put together and tastes gorgeous, especially if you finish it off - wickedly - with halloumi cheese and a handful of fresh basil leaves.

I often make all-in-one tray-bakes for family dinners - usually with chicken and veggies - because they're easy, and involve so little washing up. This is a good recipe for feeding a stampede of teens, because it stretches 12 sausages into a filling meal for six people (oh, okay, four, if you have very voracious teens).

The pork sausages add a lovely meaty flavour to the dish, but it's a good idea to drain the excess fat away half-way through baking, or you'll end up with veggies up to their waists in a golden puddle.

You can use either pumpkin or butternut here; I prefer pumpkin cubes (ready-cut ones, of course) because they have a denser texture. The halloumi at the end is an indulgence: use feta if you'd like something a little lighter, or leave the cheese out.

A handful of fresh herbs added at the end of cooking freshens up the whole dish.  I like basil because it adds a faint but intriguing aniseed note, but you could use rocket or flat-leaf parsley, or even some peppery watercress.

It isn't strictly necessary to parboil the potatoes before you start, but I recommend it, because it prevents the potatoes from turning leathery as they roast, and they will also be crisper.

To cut down on time and dishes, I parboil them in the roasting tin before adding the other ingredients and slinging the dish in the oven.

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Sausage, Pumpkin, Potato and Halloumi Tray-Bake

6 medium-large potatoes
boiling water
1 tsp (5 ml) salt, for parboiling
½ cup (125 ml) good olive oil
juice of a small lemon
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated
12 pork sausages
500 g romanita tomatoes, or similar large cherry tomatoes
500 g pumpkin or butternut cubes 
a small bunch of fresh thyme (rosemary is also lovely)
salt and milled black pepper
250 g halloumi cheese, or feta cheese
a handful of fresh basil leaves

Heat the oven to 190 ºC. If you have an oven fan, heat it to 180 ºC.  Boil the kettle. Cut the potatoes in half lengthways, and then slice them into thick chunks. Place in a large, deep roasting tray and cover them to three-quarters of their depth with boiling water. Turn on a fierce heat under the pan, add the salt and cover loosely with a large sheet of tin foil. Set the timer for exactly 7 minutes. In the meantime, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, and set aside. Twist each sausage half-way along its length to make two smaller ones, and cut through the new link with a pair of scissors. Cut the tomatoes in half crossways.

After seven minutes, drain the water off potatoes - don't worry if they're still a little wet -  and put the pan back on the hob. Turn down the heat and cook for a minute or so, tossing the pan energetically, until all the water has evaporated and the potatoes are a little roughened at the edges. They'll begin to squeak when they're nice and dry.  (Watch the pan like a hawk as the spuds will burn fast through the thin bottom of the pan.)

Take the pan off the heat and pour the olive oil mixture over the hot potatoes. Add the tomatoes, pumpkin and thyme sprigs. Season generously with salt and black pepper and toss everything together so each piece is coated with dressing.  Tuck the sausages into the veggies (try to place them over the tomatoes, so they don't prevent the spuds from browning). Bake at 190 ºC for 40-50 minutes, or until the sausages are nicely browned and the potatoes and pumpkins beginning to turn golden. Turn the sausages over, using a pair of tongs, then tilt the pan over a bowl and drain off all but a few tablespoons of the fat.  If the veggies look a little dry, paint a little of the drained fat over them using a pastry brush.

Return the pan to the oven, turn down the heat to 170 ºC (180 ºC if your oven has no fan) and roast for another 20-25 minutes, or until the pumpkin is very tender. Cut the halloumi cheese into cubes and scatter them over the vegetables. Turn on the oven grill and cook for a further 4-5 minutes, or until the cheese is soft and beginning to turn golden on the corners.  Scatter the basil leaves over the pan and serve immediately.  A spritz of lemon juice just before serving gives this dish a lovely lift.

Serves 6. 

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Spicy Chickpea, Sausage, Potato and Tomato Stew, with Tzatziki

You've been there, I'm sure: a houseful of hungry teens, and the cupboard is virtually bare. So is the fridge and freezer, apart from a pack of pork sausages, which are not enough to feed two thin cats, let alone six long-limbed late-night revellers.

 Here's how to stretch a few ingredients into a warming rib-sticker of a stew that takes just half an hour to prepare. If you don't have chickpeas to hand, use tinned beans.  If you don't have any of the veggies I've listed, use whatever you find languishing in the bottom of the fridge.

If you don't have teens, use every ingredient I've listed here to make a most delicious and satisfying quick supper. For this dish, I used gorgeous pork, garlic, white wine and parsley sausages from Open Veld, which are made using organic, free-range meat, and are available at Cape Town's Neighbourhood Goods Market. (My fellow blogger Jamie Who recently posted a lovely recipe using these sausages - check out his Wholewheat penne with pork sausage, blistered tomatoes and chilli.)

This dish is enhanced by adding a sliced chourizo sausage (fry it along with the onions) and is doubly good topped with cool Greek tzatziki.

Quick Supper Dish: Spicy Chickpea, Sausage, Potato and Tomato Stew

6 medium potatoes
3 T (45 ml) olive or sunflower oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 sticks celery, sliced
4 carrots, scraped and diced
1 red pepper, sliced [bell pepper]
1 red or green chilli, finely chopped
3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and finely chopped
½ tsp (2.5 ml) salt
6 pork sausages
1 T (15 ml) vinegar
3 T (60 ml) tomato paste
a tin of chopped Italian tomatoes
2 tsp (10 ml) Tabasco sauce, or similar hot sauce, to taste
1/2 cup (125 ml) wine, white or red
1½ tsp (7.5 ml) cumin
1 tsp (5 ml) paprika
2 tins chickpeas, drained
milled black pepper

To serve:
chopped fresh parsley or coriander [cilantro]
a tub of tzatziki (cucumber, garlic and yoghurt dip)

Cut the potatoes into chunks and cook, in plenty of boiling salted water, until just tender.  While the potatoes are boiling,  heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onion, celery, carrots and red pepper and cook, over a brisk heat, until just softened. Add the chilli, garlic and salt and cook for another minute, without allowing the garlic to brown. Tip onto a plate and set aside. Add the whole sausages to the same pan and fry for five minutes, or until their skins are browned.

Cut the sausages into short lengths using a pair of scissors or a sharp knife. Tip off any excess fat and return the vegetables to the pan. Add the vinegar, stand back, and stir briskly to loosen any sediment on the bottom of the pan. Now stir in the tomato paste, tinned tomatoes, Tabasco, white wine, cumin, and paprika.  Allow to bubble for two minutes, then tip in the chickpeas.

Drain the potatoes and add to the pan,  along with a ladleful or two of boiling water in which you cooked them - just enough to create a rich gravy.  Turn down the heat and simmer for five minutes, adding more boiling water if necessary.  Season with pepper and  add a little more salt  if needed.  Serve hot, topped with chopped fresh parsley or coriander, and a dollop of tzatziki.

Serves 6-8 Print Friendly

Puffy 'Focaccia' with Baby Sausages, Herbs, Feta, Garlic and Olive Oil

I have put the word 'puffy' in the name of this recipe not only because it's a most lovely word, but also because this quick bread billows up beautifully in the oven, creating a salty golden crust enclosing little snappy sausages, fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil: perfect for a gang of hungry teens.

I like this recipe because frankly (ha ha), I adore pork sausages in every form. Also, it reminds me of those wonderful childhood comfort foods: Toad-in-the Hole (pork sausages baked in a Yorkshire-pudding batter), and Pigs in Blankets (see Jamie Oliver demonstrate this recipe here).

If you don't eat meat, or pork, omit the sausages and add a few imaginative ingredients: cubes of hard cheese, finely snipped anchovies, caramelised onions, oil-soaked sundried tomatoes, and so on.

For this to be a quick meal, you will need to buy a ball of fresh white bread dough from your local supermarket or bakery. Most supermarkets in South Africa that have in-house bakeries (Spar and Pick 'n Pay spring to mind) will sell you ready-to-bake dough, for a pittance, but you do need to ask at the counter for it. You can also buy dough from any commercial bakery. The dough for the dish photographed here cost me just R6 (that's less than a dollar).

Of course, if you have the energy, you can make the dough yourself: here's a recipe for a basic white bread dough.

Quick meal: Puffy 'Focaccia' with Sausages, Herbs, Garlic and Olive Oil

A ball (about 600 grams) of prepared white bread dough
12 pork cocktail sausages (chipolatas) or any similar cocktail sausage
2 t (10 ml) cooking oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
half a cup (125 ml ) good olive oil
5 sprigs of fresh rosemary, stripped from their stems and finely chopped, plus a few extra sprigs
5 sprigs of fresh oregano, finely chopped
5 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves stripped from their stalks
2 'wheels' of feta cheese (about 200 grams)
flaky sea salt
freshly milled black pepper

Heat the oven to 200°C.   Heat a frying pan over a brisk heat, add the cooking oil and the sausages, and cook for six to ten minutes, turning the sausages frequently, so that they are nicely browned on all sides (but still a little pink in the middle).   While the sausages are browning, prepare the dough:  using your fingers, rub a light film of oil all over a shallow baking tray or cookie sheet. Place the ball of dough on the sheet and gently press and stretch it out so that it covers the entire base of the cooking sheet.  You will find that that dough tends to creep back a bit, but persevere with pushing and stretching until the base of the baking tray  is evenly covered.

Using your bunched fingers, make deep indentations all over the dough. In a separate bowl, mix together the crushed garlic, olive oil and chopped herbs.  Pour this mixture over the dough surface and use your fingers to poke and prod it into the indentations. Crumble the feta cheese into chunks and press into the dough surface.  Remove the sausages from the pan, drain off any fat, and press them deep into the surface of the dough, randomly, or in strict lines, as you please.  Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flaky sea salt and a showering of black pepper. Press in the remaining sprigs of rosemary.

Place in the hot oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until puffy, golden and cooked right through. Halfway through the baking time, open the oven door and press the sausages deep into the dough. Loosen the bottom of the bread with a metal spatula, slide onto a bread board and serve piping hot.


Serves 8, as a snack Print Friendly