I have been having a tough time writing posts these days. I start, type and then delete and decide I just cant write anything and its better not to post. As a result recipes keep piling up, and the blog just sits idle. I have about 7 recipes in my drafts and just look at them each and every day. I was supposed to post for GMT, had the recipe ready, everything, but then no words. I guess I spoke too soon on my instagram when I said that I will post the recipe for GMT on Tuesday because as you might have noticed that post did not happen. I just tell myself its a phase that I am going through- writer’s block probably (except I am not as eloquent as a writer). Hopefully, I will be back to my chattery blog self, for now I will just talk about the recipe I am sharing today.
I made this for the first time when my friends came over, and when I got a recipe request from my friend I knew it was good. And the fact that all of it got over should have led me to the conclusion as well. I was a little wary of it not getting over since I made it with pork sausages- a meat that V does not eat and was worried that if it did not taste that good, I would have to finish it all. But luckily that problem took care of itself. The pictures in the blog are of the time I made this with vegetarian sausages and it tasted equally good. If you do decide to make it with pork sausages, do try to find the kinds with fennel in it, or if you can’t then add fennel to the dish. The fennel flavored sausages did give this distinct flavor to the dish which in my opinion was what made this dish absolutely great.
*GIVEAWAY*
I got this recipe from a Cooking Light issue. I am so glad V is so on board with my cookbook and food magazine obsession, because if I can be categorized as a hoarder of anything- its cookbooks. I love going through amazon and I have learnt that you can get some pretty good deals on second hand cookbooks on it. I have bought good as new second hand cookbooks for $0.01. Of course the shipping is like $3-4, but still second hand books can be quite a steal. I have been following The Cake Makery on Facebook for a while and in a lot of questions the Baking book by Delia Smith comes up and people vouch that her recipes are great. So I looked on amazon and found a great second hand deal for it. Except that I accidentally ordered two. Don’t ask how these things happen. They just do. And I only realized this after I got both of them in my mail!
Since shipping it back to the dealer would cost me the same as shipping it to one of you guys in the States (sorry but can’t afford shipping elsewhere), I thought I might as well throw it in a Giveaway. To be clear, it is a second hand book, (but a second hand book that is in great condition- I promise I will give you the better condition one too). So I hope you understand I am not that generous- only a little. To be clear, I have not tried any recipe yet since I just got the book, but I have heard great reviews of the recipes on the Cake Makery and if you want you can check the reviews here on amazon. And if people are to believed the lemon cake recipe in this book is a killer one and one which many of the Cake Makery bakers recommend.
*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*
To enter your chance to win a free copy of “The Delia Collection: Baking” leave a comment below telling me how great I am what’s your go-to thing to do to kill boredom, or if that’s too much to type just leave a comment saying Hi! 
You can also get a few extra entries with the following:
- Follow The Novice Housewife on Facebook
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If you follow me on any of these, just leave a SEPARATE comment that you did.
The Giveaway ends on October 11th, 2013. And as mentioned before, I will only be able to post the book to an address located in the US (sorry but cannot afford international shipping just yet!). If you know someone in the US, you would like to ship the book to, even if you stay abroad feel free to enter!
The Giveaway is now closed. Congratulations Carolsue Anderson!
- 2 (4-ounce) hot turkey Italian sausage links, casings removed ( I have used pork sausages and also vegetarian sausages and both work great)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 cups chopped onion
- 4 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
- 1 tsp roasted cumin powdered
- 1 tsp italian seasoning
- pinch celery salt
- 1 tsp garlic powdered
- 1½ pounds red potatoes, coarsely chopped
- ½ tsp crushed fennel seeds (optional, in case your sausages are not already fennel flavored)
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- ½ cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth (I more than doubled the recipe and still used about ½ cup- so use lesser broth if just making a single recipe)
- Cooking spray
- ¾ cup (3 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme ( I used 1 tsp dried thyme for a double recipe)
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage (without the casings) to pan, and sauté for 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. If using vegetarian sausages, I just browned and chopped them up.
- Remove sausage from pan; drain. Wipe pan with paper towels.
- Melt butter in pan. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms; sauté 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes and salt and all the seasonings; sauté 5 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in sausage and broth. Remove from heat. Spoon potato mixture into an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with cheese. Cover and bake at 400° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until golden. Sprinkle with thyme.
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