Bacon, Smoked Sausage Pasta Sauce

I have many things in my freezer and hating waste I am determined to use them and create something nice. In this case I had some frozen bacon, I just never got to use it so I popped it in the freezer. I also had some Japanese style sausages (purchased for a reason I cannot recall).



In my slow cooker I created a layer of:

1 Diced brown onion
3 sliced celery ribs
2 crushed chopped garlic cloves
2 finely chopped carrots
1 thinly sliced red capsicum

To this I adeded while frozen
My bacon roughly chopped
My sausages whole (broken into individual sausages)

For the sauce I added:
1 tin tomatos
1 tin beans (cannolini)
1 jar pasta sauce
Approx 3 cups red wine

Cooked on low for 6 hours (was ready in 3)

Serve with pasta and cheese (I also add some hot sauce)

Needless to say the spirit of the dish lets you add ingredients you need to cook rather than bin. Tasted really great and left that sense of accomplishment you get when you use rather than throw out food.

Mushroom Onion Korma

I have adapted this recipe from:
http://www.meatfreemondays.com/recipe/creamy-mushroom-onion-korma-cashew-nuts/

It was origially vegan, if you want it to remain vegan swap out the cream for a vegan alternative.

Ingredients

• 4 medium onions, sliced
• 150 g mushrooms, sliced
• 50 g sultanas
• 40 g roasted cashew nuts
• 50 g Patak’s Original Korma Curry Paste (use this or any other animal-free brand, available from your local supermarket)
• 400gms coconut cream
• 150 ml cream 

Method

Heat some vegetable oil
 Add the onions.
Once the onions are browned, add the sultanas and cashew nuts.
Add the creamed coconut and water and stir well.
Add the sliced mushrooms.
Once the water has reduced by a quarter, add the curry paste and continue to cook.  Now turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and add the cream.  Stir in well and serve immediately.