Bangers and Mash in a Tasty Onion Gravy

[cathy79]

I was thinking about the sauce as I had leftovers for lunch earlier.  You could flavour the sauce with just about anything - there is a delicious bacon and tomato sauce on the side of the Gravox box that I would love to replicate without the gravox.  Or honey & mustard would be nice, or bacon and mushroom.  Or a mild curry?  Endless choices.

Will definitely make again and experiment with the sauce base.

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Yes you could really do anything with it as long as you have enough liquid to cook the potatoes in. 

[CreamPuff63]

made this last night according to the recipe, but with a couple of swiss brown mushies added at the beginning as per the suggestion and using the beef stock. it was extremely tasty, and that basically was the main topic of conversation at the table the whole time! (I used the Coles Angus beef sausages with garlic and parsley)
you're on to a winner here chelsea, and this will become a regular in our house        5/5

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Oh thank goodness CP63.  I've been really hoping that this recipe isn't a dud and have been trying to figure out how to make the sauce more tasty.  I will modify the recipe to include the mushrooms as an option.  Many thanks. 

[CarolineW]

Oooh, a family favourite - I never thought I could do the whole lot in thermie.  Thanks for opening my eyes.  As soon as DD2 wakes up from her nap I'm off to buy some sausages ....   

I am going to be sooo popular with DD1 - pasta for dinner yesterday, and sausages today.  Her 2 favourite meals 

[Very Happy Jan]

I am going to be sooo popular with DD1 - pasta for dinner yesterday, and sausages today.  Her 2 favourite meals 

50,000 good mother points to you CarolineW. Hope yours points last longer than mine seem to. I can earn them in the morning and have lost them by lunch. 

[judydawn]

50,000 good mother points to you CarolineW. Hope yours points last longer than mine seem to. I can earn them in the morning and have lost them by lunch. 

Isn't it supposed to be the other way around VHJ, the kids get the points and lose them when they play up 
I didn't know Mums were also on a points system these days.

[CarolineW]

Yep, point systems certainly seem to be operating for the parents in this household    Generally speaking if I've done well with the point system, they hold out until the end of the day - but count for nothing the next day.  I now know to be grateful for the day, at least!

[Zan]

Made this tonight and it was lovely. Added a couple of mushrooms (just button ones as that's what I had) at the beginning and used half bisto (english gravy granules) and cornflour for the thickening as had just used vegie concentrate stock. But it was all so full of flavour.
Kids loved it.
Used Woolworths Organic Beef with tomato and basil sausages - very tasty and a fav here.

[CreamPuff63]

Just had to 'bump' this recipe, because we had it tonight but added 3 x Swiss Brown mushies - bellisimo!

[Millipede]

I didnt have much joy with the recipe when I cooked it a few days ago. 

The veg were over cooked (I think steaming them for probably 3-5 min would have been sufficient- and that is easily fixed for next time). The mashed potato was really starchy and runny (I only added a tiny splash of milk at the end though???).  The gravy was also very starchy and went really rubbery when I added the cornflour. In fact we were able to peel the gravy off the sausages like it was a thick layer of skin. LOL

I didnt like the sound of steamed sausages so I cheated and fried them seperately in a frying pan- they were nice. 

But what did I do wrong with the rest of the recipe?    Might the sausages fats/flavours be necessary to make the gravy work out properly? I cant help thinking though that the starch dripping down from the spuds and vegies isnt a good thing for the gravy?

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

Hi Millipede.  So sorry it didn't work out for you

If you use good quality lean organic sausages (real meat without fillers) then you would have flavoursome meat juices dripping down and very minimal fat.  The meat juices form the base of the gravy like a traditional pan-style gravy.  I really wouldn't recommend normal snags as they are so fatty and horrible.  I probably wouldn't make the sauce without steaming the sausages (or without beef stock) as it wouldn't really be a meat gravy.

If you aren't steaming sausages then you would need to adjust the steaming times as either your varoma dish would have been empty or you would have spread the vegies throughout the dish and tray.  The steaming times given are for a full varoma dish and tray (similar to Baf's chicken meal).
 

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

P.S - There isn't any flour in the sauce until it is thickened so I think you must have had floury potatoes to end up with starchy mash. I love dutch creams for mash and just about everything else (even though they take extra time to cook). 

[CreamPuff63]

maybe you chop your veges a little finer, and so its worth noting for next time and you know how you enjoy them most. My Varoma tray is pretty full.
If you cut your potatoes up into bigger chunks (depending on size; a medium potatoe into about 6, and a smallish one about 4) they shouldn't be too broken up. I haven't made the variation with mashed potato, only the chunky potatoes in the steaming basket. I have used ordinary Delaware.
I think the sausages I have used are low fat as I don't have any fat pooling on the gravy, but there are juices that have run out of the Varoma and through the MC hole onto the potatoes which just add to the flavour. I then chop the sausages into roughly 4 chunks each and add to the gravy in the Thermoserver.

(Maybe as CTG says the point of difference is because you weren't steaming your sausages. I know it doesn't sound great, but it is healthier and you wouldn't know the difference really when it is covered in the gravy).

[Millipede]

Chelsea, thanks for your thoughts. They sound very reasonable- esp regarding the steaming time for the veg since the varoma didnt have the snags in it. And sounds like you defiantly need to have the snags in there to make the gravy properly. Its just such a shame I cant bring myself to serve up steamed sausages LOL. (I did try steamed meatballs in the varoma and thought they were aweful compared to ones that had been browned off first- so its on this basis that I am refusing to eat steamed sausages ). I guess I could buy some sacrificial sausages for the gravy and them fry up some which I actually serve.

Awww getting too complicated  and it would just be easier to make the mashed potato in the TM as per the everday cook book and fry the sausages in a pan and make the gravy in the pan juices LOL.

Still it was nice to have my eyes opened up to another way of doing it and it was good to give it a try.