Tasty Tuesday Parade of Food!

Welcome, one and all, to the soon to be famous ForeverWherever.com’s Tasty Tuesday Parade of Food!  While it may be new to you today, there will come a day when you will have Tasty Tuesday zipped to you every week wherever you shall roam!  Recipes and food ideas from all of the world’s greatest kitchens will grace our pages week-in and week-out.  No one will ever be without a great meal idea again!

Right?  That’s how this whole blog thing works isn’t it?  Just have an idea…think it’s great…put it on your blog and voila! Right? 

That’s what I was thinking when I started this idea anyway… but now it’s almost time for the party to start, and I’m starting to worry!  What if nobody comes?  I wish my mom knew how to work the computer a little better!

When we came up with the idea for Tasty Tuesday I thought…perfect!  I love to cook and my boys love to eat.  I knew that if I was ever drawing a blank on what to do for the big blog party, all I would need to do is ask for suggestions.  No shortage of food suggestions around here!

So I asked for a suggestion “Hey Tim, what do you think I should make for the Tasty Tuesday food?  It’s gotta be good!”  I wasn’t surprised when he came up with a long string of options, (read on to find out how he totally messes me up later) the winner is: 

Bangers & Mash!

We’re making Bangers and Mash!  Have you ever tried it?  It’s a great winter food and the taste is out of this world!  Using this recipe the taste is totally authentic!  It’s just like being in a good ole English Public House!

The first time we tried it we were in London!  We love to try local food (usually…not everywhere!!), and this one was so much better than I thought it would be! 

I later found this great cookbook at Williams-Sonoma and Bangers and Mash has been a regular meal in our house ever since!  The photos of London and all it’s great food are just beautiful!

Bangers and Mash with Red Onion and Wine Gravy                                                

• 2 lb good-quality pork sausages
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil

For the Gravy

•  2 tablespoons unsalted butter
•  1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 red onions, halved and finely sliced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (plain)
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1 cup red wine, such as Shiraz
• 1 cup homemade chicken or beef stock
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the sausages in a roasting pan, drizzle with the oil, toss to coat, and spread out in a single layer.  Bake, turning them after 15 minutes, until evenly colored, about 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make your mashed potatoes.
3. To make the gravy, in a wide, shallow nonreactive saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter with the olive oil.  Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until collapsed, about 4 minutes.  Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook the onions for about 20 minutes until soft.  Raise the heat to medium-low.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour and cook until evaporated.  Stir in the red wine and stock, raise the heat to medium, bring to a boil, and simmer until a luscious sauce forms, about 10 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Divide the sausages and mash among warmed individual plates.  Spoon gravy over the sausages and serve at once.

My tips:  Stir frequently.  Add extra flour for thicker gravy.  Put gravy on those mashed potatoes –Yum!

I love tons of gravy, so I might even make extra next time!

Here is where you should see all my pictures, right…the ones where the girl throwing the PARADE OF FOODS BLOG PARTY!!! shows all the hard work she put into the meal… you know, for the invited guests!…

Well that’s where my brilliant Tim comes in.  Picture this…we’re out on Sunday afternoon enjoying a beautiful sunny day.  Our plan is to bounce around town a little getting some pictures for his (also soon to be famous!) greeting cards (see the first few on the right).  Then it’s to the grocery store for all the fresh ingredients. Then home to make it all up good!

So it’s going fine when Tim says “Hey, let’s just go over to the Celtic Ray and get the Bangers and Mash there! They’re not as good as yours, but…”  Did I fall for that?  I did!  So that’s what we did! 

Now I’m totally mortified that I’m about to have a party with all store bought food!  But hey…the idea  for Tasty Tuesday is that it’s any food, homemade or not.  We were hoping for some restaurant reviews! And I can make this stuff and I promise it looks even better when I do!  Tastes better too…but the Celtic Ray does a great job of it.  I guess the fish and chips will fall as they may…it’s too late now.  It’s all Tim’s fault!

Here’s a local Punta Gorda pub that makes Bangers and Mash!    

The Celtic Ray

145 E. Marion Ave.

Punta Gorda, FL  33950

They also have great Fish and Chips!  

One of the things that always gets me back to this place is these cool swinging tables they have outside.  They sit right on the sidewalk and it’s a really nice place to sit when the sun is shining bright in the winter, or a cool night in the summer.

So…Bangers and Mash is my contribution and I’m sticking to it!

Now it’s time to see what you’re bringing to our Tasty Tuesday Parade of Food!  If you don’t have anything, just run out to McDonald’s and do a post on Cheeseburgers… I won’t throw any stones!

In any case, thanks for coming, and I’m not going to give up…next week, Lord willing, I will make something wonderful in my own kitchen!

Don’t forget to kindly mention ForeverWherever in your post and link back to us.  Also, when you do the Mr. Linky thing, be sure to put a link to your post itself, rather than your homepage so, years from now, when culinary historians are scouring the links of Tasty Tuesday looking for some great inspiration, they get to your original post!

Join in and let’s have some fun!

Tagged as: Bangers & Mash, Celtic Ray, Food, Good Eats!, Tasty Tuesday