The Western Week - Day 3

Better quality sausages served with home made sauce. Plus potato salad and fresh greens with home made honey & mustard dressing. Yums!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Much better sausages... I actually prefer the green salad as a side compared to the first time. Nonetheless, nom noms!'

And noms noms indeed! Weee! 3 days have passed and we're still going strong without rice! Hahahahahaha!

Cost for Day 3: GBP 2.50 for 2 pax

The Western Week - Day 1

This week, I'm taking on a new challenge for our dinner meals. I would like to find out a couple of things and have decided to write my experience thru my blog. Here are some of the things:

1. Can we (The Souschef and The LoyalFan) survive on western meals alone?

2. By preparing western dinners, how does it affect our budgeting? Will it be cheaper than usual, or, more expensive?

I know this sounds a little weird, but hey, let's bring some fun into this challenge, man! TheLoyalFan and myself are Malaysian Chinese, so let's see whether we can survive this... or not : P

Alrightie then, let the challenge begins!

*Drum roll begins, ends with a clash of cymbal*

Our first western dinner - Sausages with potato salad & stir fried sugar snaps

I have made the potato salad in advanced so that it will be chilled. Cut potatoes into little chunks and boil it until it is cooked. Drain the water and season the potatoes with mayonaise, salt, pepper and some mixed herbs (Chives would be lovely!).
If you have lemons, squeeze in  some lemon juice and it will give a refreshing taste!

For the sugar snaps, it was a chinese fusion... hehehe (Asian seasoning is considered as... seasoning, not as a meal ^_^). Stir fry the sugar snaps with or without oil, and season it with some soy sauce & fish sauce.

The sausages we've bought are one of the cheaper brands in the supermarket. It is very easy to cook, just fry it in a pan! Yippie! We also made sauce to compliment with our sausages. With the leftover oil from the sausages, stir fry sliced onions until fragrant. Then pour in some wine, we used our little bit of port and pour in half a bowl of corn flour water. Season it with some HP sauce and sugar. 


Done!

It does nice on the plate, eh? The sausages were... well, okay lah! Abit too salty and the meat was quite processed. Nonetheless, our 'experimented' sauce turned out quite nice!

TheLoyalFan says: 'Tonight's sausages weren't as good as the premium ones we had the last time. Sauce was good though, the port gave it a very nice ehhh ermm... fruity flavour. Noms!'


Alright! Day One's complete and six more days to go...

Cost for Day 1 : GBP 3.30 for two pax

Pasta Ragù

Though the name sounds foreign, it is actually somewhat like a Bolognese, with a twist : )

So here goes...

First, prepare your ingredients. For your information, this dish is from Jamie Oliver and it was featured in his 'Jamie's 30-minute meals' TV show. He used a food processor to whaz up almost all the ingredients. I do not have a food processor, hence, I used the old school method - manual chopping. You can find out the exact recipe via the Internet as mine had some modifications due to insufficient ingredients : P

Chop up spring onions, carrots and chillis into smaller bits. Then fry them in a pan with some heated oil. Remove the linings of 4 sausages and put the meat into the pan as well. As you fry, try to 'mince' the meat up into smaller pieces and pour some oregano/mixed herbs.

Fry fry fry and mince mince mince!

Since the ingredients are not whazzed into fine bits, continue to fry the mixture a little while more to ensure everything's cooked and softened. While leaving the mixture to simmer away, pour in some balsamic vinegar onto the meat and let the liquid reduce. Slice up some garlic and put it in too! Finally, pour in a tin of plum tomatoes and season the sauce. The Ragù is done!

As for the pasta, boil the penne pasta until it is softened. You can boil this while preparing the sauce. Once the pasta is ready to be drained, scoop up some of the pasta water out and put it aside. Remove the sauce from heat and mix the pasta into the sauce. Add in some of the pasta water to make a more sticky texture.

Although the ingredients are kinda chunky, the taste was refreshing. It has the usual bolognese taste but with a hint of spicyness. It's like an adult version of bolognese. As for the meat, I would prefer mince meat instead of the sausage fillings. This is because I like the meaty texture than the 'processed' meat texture. Also, using spring onion gives a milder onion sweetness - great for people who prefer a milder onion taste in their pasta.

TheLoyalFan says: 'The balsamic vinegar and chillis give the dish a fresh taste.Tangy, slightly spicy and sweet..very nice!'

Yum yum! We made such a big pot that we have leftover for our next day's lunch. Mmm!

Next up - Chinese Steamed Chicken! Yum yum yum for me!

Bangers and Mash

Also known as sausages and mash potatoes, this dish appears in most restaurants' or pubs' menu. Basically, this dish consists of sausages, mash potatoes and vegetables as sides. Plus, it is really easy to prepare since this is a common English recipe. All ingredients are available at the local supermarkets and it is not expensive at all!

Preparation is quite easy too! 4 actions needed - slicing/cutting, boiling, mashing and frying.

First, chop up the potatoes into cubes and put in boiling water to soften them. Depending on the type of potato, it is important to boil them really soft so that it will be easier for you to mash. For me, I use a fork and poke through the cube to check whether it is soft for mashing. Once the potatoes are ready, drain the water out. Add in a knob of butter, milk and some salt and pepper for seasoning.

For the sausages, simply fry them until they are cooked : )

Oh yes, prepare some brown gravy to complement your mash and sausages too! Hahaha, I almost forgot : P
For this, I used brown granules again ^_^ However, if you don't have instant brown granules, you can read my previous post for the D.I.Y. version.

Tadaaa!

For the vegetables, please feel free to use whatever greens you like. Since fresh mushrooms are cheaper here, we bought some and fry them. Yum yum yum!

Needless to say, the sausages were really yummy - meat is always yummy! Hehehehe... the mash? If you like mash, I think there's no need to describe the yummy-ness of it too! This dish is really simple to prepare and I think one doesn't need to go to a pub to eat one... Well, unless the sausages are custom made : )

TheLoyalFan says: 'The new, more 'atas' sausages were yummy! Had a spring in them and full of flavour. Were matched perfectly with creamy mash and a tasty gravy... slept happy!'

It was indeed happy and satisfying for both of us. We will be missing the variety of sausages and potatoes when we leave here... *sob sob* So now, we must savour every moment of it!

Till then, keep nomming!