Sausages without skins are simple to prepare, and you know what goes into them when you make them yourself. Here home-made pork sausages flavoured with sun-dried tomatoes and leeks are cooked in a herby batter, then served with mashed root vegetables and home-made baked beans for a satisfying healthy meal.
For extra iron, replace the pork with lean minced venison, and substitute ready-to-eat dried apricots for the sun-dried tomatoes. * If you can't get mi-cuit tomatoes, use sun-dried tomatoes in oil and drain them well. * Instead of the root vegetable mash and baked beans, serve the toad-in-the-hole with baked potatoes and crisp stir-fried vegetables. Use 200 g (7 oz) sugarsnap peas, and 2 courgettes and 3 carrots, all sliced on the diagonal. Heat a wok until hot, then add 1 tbsp sunflower oil and swirl to coat the wok. Add the vegetables and stir-fry over a high heat for 2 minutes. Pour in 3 tbsp vegetable stock and 1 tbsp soy sauce, reduce the heat to moderate and stir-fry for 3–5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender but still slightly crunchy.
This is an excellent meal for growing children and teenagers because it contains such a variety of nutrients. The pork provides protein and zinc. The eggs provide protein, iron, zinc, selenium and vitamins A, B and E, while the milk provides protein, calcium, phosphorus and many of the B vitamins. Between them, the vegetables supply vitamins A, B, C and E. * In these days of refrigerated transport and all-year-round variety, it is easy to forget the importance of root vegetables, such as parsnips and swede, as a source of vitamin C. At one time, these vegetables were very important in preventing scurvy in Britain during the winter months.
A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, E, niacin, calcium, iron, zinc * selenium
Was nice but beans wasn't a hit in my house - 12 Jun 2011