Sausage stew day

We thought yesterday it was time to use up the small saucisson from Bastides out of Waitrose that had been sitting in the refrigerator for a while - having been surprised a few days previously by interesting white fluff growing on the cut end of a chunk of black pudding. I might add that we just cut the fluff off, along with a centimetre or so of pudding, and consumed the balance without any ill effects. While the saucisson had not been opened and should be good for a good while - proper saucisson being full of evil preservatives - but still and all.

Browned some garlic and freshly pounded black pepper - quite aromatic when prepared in this way - in rape seed oil at around 11:15. Added chopped onion. Dab of left over vegetables. Added orange pepper. Added tomatoes. Added a little celery. By which time it was around 12:00. No added water.

Around 12:50 added coarsely chopped sausage (200g) and chopped mushroom stalks. Around 13:00 added the mushroom caps - having quite forgotten about the cook separate option of reference 2.

Plus there were no potatoes and I switched from pasta to rice, this last the residue of having thought to make the stew into a form of risotto. Maybe next time.

In parallel, cook a cup full of rice and half a packet of spring greens. These last in boiling water for a little more than five minutes.

Served up around 13:10. All very good. We did most of the stew, all of the rice and greens. We could have done with a little more rice. A modest portion of stew left over, probably to be taken under bread later today.

Notice the puddle, visible bottom left in the snap above. A puddle which, given that no water was added, seemed to be the result of cooking driving a lot of water out of the mushrooms.

Dark, sweet grapes for dessert. Plus two small oranges, what Sainsbury's call 'easy peelers' without distinction of variety or place of origin. For once, these particular ones were quite good, sharp and sweet, not rather soft and watery as they often seem to be.

PS 1: the hawthorn presently in full floral splendour, with part of the crown being snapped through the front bedroom double glazing in the snap above.

Looks pretty good from the front drive, where there is also quite a strong perfume when the wind is right. Then this morning, BH spotted a couple of fat pigeons feeding on the blossoms, from which their stomachs can presumably extract the nectar. She also reminded me of the old country custom of making sandwiches from the bursting buds of the hawthorn; a handy supplement for the rural poor of old.

PS 2: the Bing search term 'saucisson bastides' did not turn up reference 1, just shops selling the stuff. It took the power of Copilot to remind me that the proper search term was 'bastides salaisons'.

References

Reference 1: https://www.sacor.fr/.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/02/trolley-641.html. The last stew appears to have been more than 35 trolleys ago, that is to say a couple of months. And regarding fluff, I think the sausage involved here was a purchase which did not include the present sausage.