Pub Grub

   

I have one more recipe from our pub crawl.  OK.  Two pubs in Nottingham and one pub in London.  That is a crawl for US.  The brew pub is Nottingham had a recipe book that espoused the opinion that if a recipe called for liquid, you could pretty much always replace it with beer.  I'd hate to see that done in a custard, but it worked for the Hefeweizen Beer Bread so I thought to try it with, wait for it...

Beer Braised Sausages and Garlic Mashed with Peas and Carrots

Sausages
Onions
Olive Oil
Pilsner

First of all, I didn't know what a pilsner is, so I used my trusty cell phone to search while at the store.  I was informed it was a pale lager.  We were at the Fresh market to get some fresh made sausages so we made up our own six pack and got the brew for two different meals.

   

We bought 3 sausages because I couldn't decide between them.  Two were chicken with Granny Smith apples. The other one was turkey with wine and garlic.  See?  We couldn't decide either!  They were very soft and fragile so if you get fresh ones handle them gently.

   

Heat some OO in a cast iron pan.  Brown the sausages on all sides and set them aside.

   

Cut up a half of an onion for every person, so we used a whole one.  I cut it in half and then thinly sliced it. The onions went in the hot pan and cooked until they were caramelized. Start heating the oven just before the onions are done.  It needs to be at 315 degrees.

   

Return the sausage to the pan with the onions and cover them with beer.  It took about 1 and 1/2 bottles, but if I had more sausages, I probably could have gotten away with 1 bottle.  But then I wouldn't have had an open bottle that must be consumed or wasted, so that all worked out for me.  I popped it in the fridge until everything was cooked and made a shandy with some Sprite Zero.  A shandy with pub grub sounded good to me.

Put the sausages in the heated oven for 2 hours.  Go take a rest. 

Garlic Mashed with Peas and Carrots

Potatoes  We used 3 medium sized Yukon Gold, but Russets would also do.
Garlic
sour cream
butter
milk
s & p

carrots
peas

   

After one hour come back and make up the garlic for the mashed potatoes. Take a whole garlic and peel off all the loose "paper". Cut off the top and place it in the middle of enough foil to cover the whole thing. Drizzle olive oil over the top and season with s & p. Seal the foil and pop it in the oven with the sausages for the last hour. Go take another rest. This is hard work.

When there is only 30 minutes left for the sausages, start the potatoes.  Peel and cut them into cubes for faster cooking.  Cover them with water and bring to a slow boil.  Keep an eye on them so they don't boil over and also so they don't get over cooked.  Every once in awhile, pick one up with a spoon and cut it with a sharp knife.  When it cuts easily, you are done.  Drain and place in a large bowl.

   

After you start the potatoes, start the carrots.  I just used a steamer over a bit of water and heated it to a boil.  Put a handful of baby carrots in the steamer and cover with a lid.  When they are mostly done, add another handful of frozen peas. When done remove the strainer and dump everything in a serving dish.  Add a bit of butter.

Remove the garlic from the oven.  Let it cool a bit.  Then peel back the foil and squeeze all the garlic on top of your potatoes and start mashing.  A ricer will give you mashed potatoes with no lumps, but it is a pain to clean, so I just mashed away and decided to embrace the lumps.  I put in a hunk of butter and a dollop of sour cream.  Add s & p and mash some more.  Then add a bit of milk and keep mashing.  Keep adding SMALL amounts of milk until the proper consistency.  Don't go crazy with the milk or it will get soupy.

   

To serve, place a circle of mashed potatoes in the middle of the plate.  Put a serving of the peas and carrots on top of the mashed potatoes.  Then top everything with the sausages and spoon some of the onions with a bit of the reduced beer/sauce.  Because there were two of us and three sausages, I cut them in half before serving.  That way be both got to taste each type of sausage.

   

I somehow managed to make some really excellent Pub Grub.  Perhaps I will start a Pub instead of a B&B!

I decided to use the Hefeweizen banana bread for a dessert.  One slice covered in sliced strawberries with a dollop of Cool Whip may not be traditional Pub Grub, but it was delicious.