sausage Archives - Time for a coffee

June 19, 2025

Duck with lentils and sausages

Duck and lentils

When I was in France back in March I stocked up with some cans of what I would call cassoulet but actually were a variety of tins with duck or sausages, some with lentils, some with beans. One of these was a tin of Saucisses de Montbéliard et lentilles cuisinées.

Saucisses de Montbéliard is a traditional French smoked sausage, which I suspect tastes even better if it was cooked from fresh, and didn’t come from a tin! However, I just had the tin, so didn’t really have a choice.

The duck legs I had cooked earlier that week, so was just heating them up in the oven. I think the “proper” way to cook these would be to confit them, but I didn’t have the time, and more importantly I am not actually sure how to confit. Must look that up at some point. I heated up the contents of the can in a pan for around five minutes.

I put the lentils in a large bowl and added the duck legs.

The duck was not as tender as I would have liked, but they were still tasty. I really enjoyed the lentils, and the sausages were actually quite good. I think, when I go back to France, I will get some more of these.

May 21, 2025May 19, 2025

Schupfnudeln with Smoked Sausage

I mentioned previously that I quite like the themed weeks that Lidl does, recently they had an Alps style week with their Alpenfest style range of products. I got some classic smoked sausages and some German style potato dumplings, schupfnudeln. I cooked them first just in the pan, the next time I cooked them in a different way.

This time I sliced the smoked sausage and cooked it in the frying pan with some onions. When the onions were soft I added some mushrooms.

I pan fried the dumplings in a separate pan. I did add some butter to the schupfnudeln towards the end of cooking to add some colour.

I then combined the two pans with some crème fraîche and parmesan cheese.

Tasty and different to what I had done before.

May 19, 2025

Schupfnudeln with Smoked Sausage

I quite like the themed weeks that Lidl does, recently they had an Alps style week with their Alpenfest style range of products.

I got some classic smoked sausages and some German style potato dumplings, schupfnudeln.

They were easy to prepare, and I pan fried the sausage and dumplings in separate pans. I did add some butter to the schupfnudeln towards the end of cooking to add some colour. The schupfnudeln reminded me of fried gnocchi.

This was a really tasty meal, and I served mine with some salad on the side.

May 17, 2024

Calabrian Spicy Sausages

I have seen these sausages in M&S quite a few times, but have never bought them until this weekend, where they were reduced by 35%.

The suino bianco pigs are outdoor bred by the Madeo family in the hills of San Demetrio Corone in Calabria, Italy to the highest welfare standards. The suino bianco naturally has marbled meat and its diet of cereals such as barley, corn and flax seed add to its characteristic delicate flavour. Made from Calabrian pork blended with aromatic spices.

I cut them in half and cooked them on the barbecue.

They were quite spicy, but I wasn’t that impressed with them. They had a kick, but I felt like they lacked flavour, the chilli took over what every that characteristic delicate flavour was that the pork was supposed to have. They were still nice, but I don’t think I would buy them again.

October 25, 2023

Homemade bean dish

I originally called this dish a cassoulet. However I didn’t think it was an authentic cassoulet, so checked for a definition of what a cassoulet is.

Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked stew originating in southern France. The food writer Elizabeth David described it as “that sumptuous amalgamation of haricot beans, sausage, pork, mutton and preserved goose, aromatically spiced with garlic and herbs”.

Yup, what I cooked wasn’t a cassoulet. I didn’t use haricot beans, mutton or goose, and didn’t slow cook it either. Maybe something to try at another time.

I did though make a dish with beans, pork belly, and Polish sausage.

In a large deep frying pan, I have a lovely large pan I got at IKEA which is ideal for this.

I added a splash of olive oil to which I added some pancetta. After cooking this for a while I added chopped garlic, with diced red onion, peppers and mushrooms.

I cooked the pancetta, onions, peppers, and mushrooms until the onions and pepper were softened. I then added some flour, stock, and some tomato puree. I cooked this for a while (ten minutes) before adding some sliced Polish sausage and some cooked pork belly chunks. The pork belly I had slow roasted in the oven for an hour.

After ten more minute I added two packs of beans, one cannellini, and one borlotti. As they are already cooked I was just warming the beans through.

I served this with some roasted potatoes and cooked vegetables.

October 4, 2023

Mixed Grill at the Gardens

We were on holiday at the Cerro Mar Gardens in Albufeira in Portugal we made a couple of visits to the hotel restaurant. On my first visit I had an excellent swordfish dish.

On our second visit, I was tempted by the cataplana, but it was for two, and everyone else was choosing different dishes. I even considered just having the cataplana to myself.

Cataplana is a traditional Algarvian dish cooked in a special copper pot of the same name. The ingredients typically include onion, red and green peppers, tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, tarragon, parsley, white wine, and a variety of meat or seafood, such as cubed pork, chouriço sausage, chicken, fish, prawns, clams, or other shellfish.

In the end I went with the mixed grill. This was steak, lamb, chicken, sausage, and two kinds of pork. It was served with fries and a tiny salad.

I thought the swordfish was excellent, this dish, not so much. I was rather disappointed. Maybe it was too simple, but the cuts of meat were rather thin and were overcooked and slightly dry. I would like to have had more salad. The fries were okay. That really though sums up the whole dish, it was okay, nothing special.

I wish now I had ordered the cataplana.

August 5, 2023

Salad, Sausage and Chips

This was a meal I threw together from what we had in the fridge. We had a couple of the Greek Tzoumagias-Style Sausages from Lidl. These I cooked and served with a salad and some French fries.

The tomatoes were homegrown. I also used lettuce, cucumber, red pepper, and pomegranate. I also had some olives and pulses, which I added to the salad.

The French fries were from M&S, these are easy to cook, crispy, and importantly gluten free.

We enjoyed the meal.

December 6, 2022December 6, 2022

Time for a German Breakfast

I was staying in Berlin for a few days attending a conference. The last time I had been to Germany was in 1985 staying for a couple of days in Munich on the way back from a camp in Yugoslavia. This was my first visit to Berlin and the first visit to a unified Germany. I was staying at the NH Collection Mitte ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ in the heart of what was East Berlin.

I had breakfast in the hotel and I did find it interesting what was on offer and what I could have. I had never had breakfast before at a German hotel.

So once I got my coffee and a (disappointing) orange juice, I headed to the service area to choose something for breakfast.

There was a kitchen that cooked omelettes and fried eggs to order. On the hot plates were Nuremberg sausage or Nürnberger Rostbratwurst. These were small grilled sausages with a distinctive flavour. There was also scrambled egg, which was nothing to shout about. I quite liked the cheese covered grilled tomato, the cheese certainly enhanced that tomato. The streaky bacon was overcooked for my liking. I guess if you like crispy bacon then you would enjoy this streaky bacon, personally I prefer my bacon cooked, but still soft. Though initially a little apprehensive, I did quite enjoy the mushrooms in a cream sauce.

There was a wide range of breakfast items available. I did expect to see cheeses and cold meats, but was a little surprised to see fresh salad alongside. That felt a lot more like lunch than breakfast. Next to the salad was a lovely selection of fresh fruit. Elsewhere there was yoghurts and cereal.

I really loved the bread selection, as well as a range of bread rolls, there was a great range of loaves which you could cut slices from. There was white bread, seeded bread and wholemeal bread. Along with the bread was pastries and croissant.

There was also a pancake machine, which you could use to make your own pancakes, to which you could add maple syrup.

This was a splendid selection of breakfast items and I really enjoyed eating breakfast at the hotel.

August 4, 2022January 31, 2023

Greek Tzoumagias-Style Sausages

During the recent Greek week at Lidl I bought some Tzoumagias-Style Pork Sausages with Leek.

There are seven sausages and in the pack.

I cooked them simply in a warm frying pan until they were browned and hot all the way through.

These have a lovely meaty texture and some nice flavours. I have no idea how authentic these are, but I do like them.

These were better and much nicer that the sausage I recently had at The Real Greek.

July 22, 2022

Not as good as it was

Back in 2018 I made a few visits to The Real Greek in Cabot Circus and had some great food. Of course with lockdown, any early return visit was scuppered.

So recently I was in the Westfield Shopping Centre with my son and we decided, on my recommendation, the branch of The Real Greek they have there.

It was quite a hot day and it was rather warm in the restaurant. We looked over the menu and thought about what to eat. The menu has changed since I ate there four years ago, so some of the things I had enjoyed then, were no longer on the menu.

In the end we went with the fixed price Filoxenia Dinner Menu.

You make one choice from the four options.

For the first option, I went with the Greek flatbread, whilst my son had the crudités.

As for the second option, my son chose the Houmous and I went with the Santorini Fava.

From the hot meze options, I went with the Loukaniko Beef & Pork Sausage Skewer, and my son chose the Fried Kalamari.

For the final option we had chips and the Saffron Rice.

The Santorini Fava was something I haven’t had before, and is yellow lentils from Santorini, cooked and blended with herbs and spices, topped with a salsa of tomatoes, onions, capers and caper powder.

It was nicely presented and worked well with the flatbread.

The houmous was a blend of chickpeas, rich in tahini and spiced with cumin, topped with paprika and roasted red peppers. I had a taste and it was really nice.

For the hot meze, the Kalamari was crisp squid rings served with lemon mayonnaise.

Compared to the grilled kalamari I had in 2018 this was a real disappointment. The previous dish was described as “Our own unique version, using the freshest squid and a sticky Greek honey and paprika marinade.”

My thoughts back then were:

I think you can tell a lot about a restaurant on how they cook squid. The dish looked interesting and not quite how I imagined. The squid was tender and tasty, the marinade wasn’t overpowering and enhanced the dish.

This time, what we go was, squid rings in a crispy coating. It could have been okay, however the squid hadn’t been cleaned properly before cooking and a couple of pieces still had the inedible membrane attached.

As for my Loukaniko, Beef & Pork Sausage Skewer, this was a traditional Greek sausage from Thrace, chargrilled and served on a bed of Greek Slaw.

Well it was, what it said it was. The sausages was tasty and I enjoyed the slaw.

This was a very different dish to the one I had in July 2018, then you got a lot more sausage.

Overall I was to be honest quite disappointed with the whole experience. I don’t think I will be making a return visit anytime soon.