For anyone trying to live a sustainable life, avoiding food waste is really important. But it’s also important for anyone on a budget or wanting to save money. I have written before about this issue of throwing food away, so here I’m going to share a recipe for using up bits and pieces.
I don’t mind giving scraps to the chickens, as that just converts one sort of food to another (although I prefer them to eat snails, slugs and weeds), but I much prefer humans to eat food from the kitchen (and garden). And so, I regularly find myself making Glamorgan Sausages. Now, although I do eat meat, these sausages are vegetarian. For them, you require breadcrumbs, cheese, onion, sage and an egg, plus salt, pepper and mustard if any of those things appeal to your taste buds (I tend not to add any of them).
First, whiz up some bread (any sort, with or without gluten, just nothing sweet) in a food processor. To the bowl, add onion (I usually manage to have half an onion hanging around that needs eating up or I use onion tops or spring onions from the garden) and some chopped cheese (fine if you have a piece of cheese that’s gone slightly dry) and whiz it all around again. Then add some fresh chopped sage or dried rubbed sage and give it a quick pulse to mix it before breaking in an egg (or two if you’ve made lots) and whizzing it again until it’s all combined (adingd seasonings at this stage if required). After this, divide the mixture up and roll into sausages before shallow frying.
Glamorgan sausages with garlic potatoes and lettuce
I usually serve them with potatoes (especially good with boiled new ones), lettuce and apple chutney, but you can have them with baked beans, vegetables or in a bun. The mixture is brilliant for making vegetarian Scotch Eggs too. The only problem is that I never measure quantities, so you’ll have to be creative! I can say, however, that I always use a relatively small amount of a strong cheddar cheese.
They are, in fact, too good only to make when I have stale bread and elderly cheese and quite often, chez snail, they are made from fresh ingredients… and they always go down well.
The Snail of Happiness 
katechiconi
/ June 3, 2014I notice that the liquid ingredient in the wine glass was not in fact added. I can only speculate as to its ultimate destination…. My problem is that I rarely have GF bread left over, since I make it into rolls, freeze them and get them out and use them as required. And I’m blowed if the HoC is getting these beauties made with gluteny bread all to himself – it’s bad enough having to watch him eat meat pies!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 3, 2014Make some specially… or buy some of the yukky supermarket GF bread and use that!
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katechiconi
/ June 3, 2014I might just do that. We have some fairly, um, aged cheese in the fridge, too…
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writinghouse
/ June 3, 2014These are the very definition of yumminess!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 3, 2014and frugality!
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lizard100
/ June 3, 2014I like this and the sound of vegetarian scotch eggs. That’s a clever idea!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 3, 2014They are delicious… especially if you boil the eggs for just 6 or 7 minutes, so that the while is cooked but the yolk is runny, before constructing the Scotch Eggs… ooh, now I want to make some!
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lizard100
/ June 3, 2014Sounds gorgeous
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Karen B
/ June 3, 2014I really like the look of these! Sadly, I can’t eat cheese so I will have to think how I could help them to have a little more “kick” without that ingredient. Like you, I can not bear waste and I use up everything from the day before in a risotto the next day, or mixed with a little mayonnaise in a salad. Often, it is the left over roasted vegetables and a little mayonnaise or dressing, tucked at the very bottom of a salad bowl which really comes as a great tasty surprise!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 3, 2014In this house it’s rare for roasted vegetables to last until the next day, but I do like your thinking.
I’m actually lactose intolerant, so cheese is only possible if I take a lactase tablet with my food. In fact, lactose is water soluble, so the harder the cheese (in theory) the less lactose is present, meaning that Parmesan-type cheese is best and also very tasty.
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alifemoment
/ June 3, 2014Delicious meal! 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 3, 2014And all local too!
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alifemoment
/ June 3, 2014🙂
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wscottling
/ June 3, 2014I’ll have to try this some day. Our bread is forever going moldy (we don’t eat it nearly fast enough…)
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 3, 2014I make left-over bread into breadcrumbs and freeze these, so that we can have Glamorgan Sausages any time.
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Andrea
/ June 3, 2014Sounds delicious, and another interesting idea for the using up of stale bread. I often get given stale rolls ‘for the goats’, but I’d rather us humans ate them if possible.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 3, 2014Well, I won’t tell anyone if you won’t!
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katythenightowl
/ June 3, 2014I usually use a good sosmix, mixed up with sage and onion stuffing, if I want to make scotch eggs, as we both prefer a vegetarian option there, but I do love the look of your mix, so will have to snaffle some of our seriously strong cheddar, next time we fancy some – or before Mr Nightowl eats all the cheese, anyway! 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 4, 2014Do try it… they are delicious!
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narf77
/ June 5, 2014You might have to start a new page on this blog called “The Frugal Gourmet” if you keep giving us lovely recipes like this. I make glamorgan sausages with fresh bread, feta, a grating of good sharp cheddar, parsley and anything else that takes my fancy. These can be made vegan as well if you choose some of the cheezy alternatives out there (lots of them and many you can make yourself) and use chickpea flour and water to “egg” them in before dipping into breadcrumbs. Clever frugality makes for savings all round as well as a very healthy dose of satisfaction 🙂
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The Snail of Happiness
/ June 6, 2014I’m quite good at frugal… I just hate throwing food away, especially if it can be made into something delicious 🙂
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narf77
/ June 7, 2014I used to be a cook for a living and know a few little tricks to make delicious things out of frugal offerings 🙂
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