28th October 2009

Vegan Sausage & Bean Casserole

Now that Autumn’s officially here and it’s decidedly colder, me and my husband (who’s also vegan) are switching to our favourite Autumn/Winter vegan recipes. Things like homemade cottage pie, ‘traditional’  roast dinners, chillis and curries have replaced Summery pasta and salad-type dishes. Our absolute favourite at the moment is Vegan Sausage Casserole. It’s something that I cobbled together a few years ago and it’s a really tasty winter warmer, plus if there’s just two of you it lasts two nights, so no cooking the next day – always a bonus!

This is how I make it:

2 Medium Onions sliced
Pack Redwood Vegi Deli Lincolnshire Style sausages
1 carrot, sliced
Pack/250g mushrooms, sliced
4 small-medium sweet potatoes, chopped into chunks
Tin of baked beans
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
Tin of Butter beans, rinsed
About half a tube of tomato puree
vegetable stock cube/granules in a half pint of boiling water
Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tsps mixed herbs
Tsp dried Sage – if not included in the mixed herbs
1 bay leaf.
Vegetable gravy granules as needed

Halve and slice the onions and fry gently in Olive oil until golden brown. Add the sausages to fry on each side for a few mins. Add the   chopped mushrooms and carrots and sweat for a few mins. Add the chunky sweet potato, the tinned tomatos, baked beans, puree, dried herbs, about 3 good dashes of Vegan Worcestershire Sauce and just enough stock (about 1/2 – 3/4 pint) to cover the veg. Add the rinsed butter beans and a bay leaf and stir it all together well. Bring to a good simmer then cook gently until the veg is soft. I like the tomato sauce to be nice and thick so when everything’s cooked I add a couple of tsps of veggie gravy granules and cook for a bit longer with the lidoff which thickens the sauce up a treat. It’s pretty rich but really tasty! We have it with warmed crusty bread. You could add any root veg you liked really and any beans of your choice. Flageolet beans work really nice in there too. I’ve also tried it with chunks of smoked tofu cooked in place of the sausages which is just as nice. If you used tofu and sausages in there with the beans it’s more of a vegan alternative to the French classic ‘Cassoulet’ than a trad casserole but whatever you want to call it, if you try it, I hope you like it!

Thank you to Jo for giving us one less Vegan Mofo blog to write and a delicious recipe at the same time! Now go Check out her fab website Concrete to Canvas. ^.^

Tags: casserole, recipe, vegan mofo 2009