Tomato & Sausage Bake

I was watching “Jamie At Home” the other day and he was showcasing three recipes using different types of tomatoes.  I love the show because the recipes are easy and more importantly, he uses fresh ingredients picked fresh from his garden!  His particular dish uses sweet cherry tomatoes and Italian Pork Sausages but of course we are doing this the vegan way but you’ll see why I love the basic concept of the dish.  For one, you can use any type of vegan sausages/faux meats and any type of tomatoes that you have.  Also, the vegan versions of this dish seem to have more variety over what we can add in place of sausage long as  tomatoes remain as the main ingredient. Replace sausage with Tofu, Tempeh, Seitan,etc

Another reason I love this dish is that it is a one-pan/pot type dish.  Easy cleanup! For my version of the dish, I used Fry’s Spicy Sausages. Other variations were using red wine vinegar because I didn’t have any balsamic in the pantry and I also added fennel because I love the taste and smell – liquorice and anise-like.  It’s also great for digestive problems!

So, let’s make this shall we? Get all your ingredients ready and chopped.   Chop your tomatoes, mushrooms, fennel and mince your garlic. Toss them in olive oil, red wine vinegar and dried herbs along with the protein you are using.

Tofu version the extra firm kind

A little close to an hour the tomatoes should have broken down considerably.   At this point you can serve your dish.  If you wanted the tomatoes a little thicker, just remove the sausages and pour your veggies into a pan on the stovetop and thicken your sauce.  If you were *smart* and used a pan that is both oven and stove-top friendly, you’ll skip that step and yay, no extra dishes.

Get a mop…no, not that kind.  The kind that MOPS up sauces…like off a bowl. I’m talking about a nice crusty loaf.  Trust me, you’re going to need something to soak up all the juices released by the tomatoes.  For this occasion we used  Ciabatta – we spread slices of vegan cheese and broiled to kinda melt it.

Serve up in a bowl and get that bread…no fork needed. Hand job only…oh wait, does that sound like an ad for uhm…uhm…never mind, just eat!

We felt the tomatoes needed an extra kick so we added chilli flakes but this is totally optional!

Recipe for: Sausage and Tomato Bake

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Directions

5 links Vegan Sausage 5 Ripe Tomatoes 2 bay leaves 1 Tsp Dried Thyme 1 Tsp Dried Oregano 1 Tsp Black Pepper 1 pkg button mushroom 1 Tsp minced garlic 1/2 Fennel, sliced 2 Tbsp Olive Oil Splash Red Wine Vinegar Salt to taste

Preheat your oven to 375F. Get your roasting pan and add your tomatoes in one layer, the herbs, garlic, mushrooms, fennel. Drizzle with olive oil and red wine vinegar and toss together. Add protein on top, season with S&P. Pop into oven. After 30 minutes give the pan a shake to check if tomatoes have broken down. Leave to roast for another 10-30 minutes or until sufficiently caramelised. Serve with crusty bread or pour sauce over cooked pasta.

Advertisement