Health(ier) Bangers and Mash

What did we do to channel our Irish roots for St. Patrick’s Day?  We had Italian food, of course.  Our nieces’ cheer team was having a fundraiser at a local Italian restaurant and so we decided to support them as well as our continuous craving for pizza and calzones.  Bangers and Mash was put on hold until the following day, but still tasted just as good as if it were the holiday.

Last year I said that I would try the same recipe with English sausage.  Well, I didn’t put a lot of effort into finding them and so I didn’t find any!  Instead, the husband and I decided to try a healthy version of Bangers and Mash.  I know what you’re thinking because I thought it too – HOW?!!!!!  All of that fat in the sausage, all of that butter and cream in the potatoes, and what to do about the gravy?

Not to panic, someone much more creative than me came up with a healthier (I won’t say healthy, but healthier) take on the traditional dish.  In a blog called “Don’t Change Much,” the entire recipe for HealthyBangers and Mash is outlined.  And I honestly didn’t change much this time because the changes to make this recipe healthier were already made for me:

• Turkey sausage (I used Sweet Italian) instead of English sausage
• Yogurt instead of butter and cream in the potatoes (I also used chicken broth to make the creamy mash more flavorful)
• Onions sauteed in leftover grease from the turkey sausage in place of a brown gravy (there wasn’t a lot of grease because this was turkey, so I added just a bit of olive oil)
• Peas and carrots were served on the side, so less potatoes were needed (less carbs too!)

The husband helped prepare everything, so we had a lot of fun chopping, stirring, and cooking together.  I think we both worried that the fat reduction would equal a taste reduction, so when we finally sat down to eat and the husband took a big bite of mashed potatoes, I was surprised at his unwavering response of “I like it.”  I think he may have been surprised that he liked it so much too.

But then I took a bite of the potatoes and completely understood.  They were creamy!  I don’t think I’ve ever had mashed pototoes that were that creamy!  Honestly, I don’t have much to compare it to though and I still consider myself a potato  novice.  While I’ve been tasked with seasoning the mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving since I was a teenager, I don’t  usually taste them and if I do it is just a quick dab of the finger in the pot to see if needs more salt.  My Pie Goddess Sister usually tells me to add more pepper.  Even though there wasn’t much yogurt mixed into the pot, it really changed the texture of the potatoes and the chicken broth really changed the flavor but not so much that you would think “Oh yeah, there is chicken broth in there.” 

I already have some ideas on how to spruce this up away from the bangers part of the dish.  First, I want to make it dairy free, so I’m going to have to look for yogurt substitutes.  Then I want to try adding scallions and maybe even roasted garlic.

Sorry!  Shiny objects and and yummy food are terrible distractions for me – back to the Healthy Bangers and Mash!  The rest of the dish was delicious – the Italian Turkey Sausage was not overpoweringly spicy and the crispy onions complemented them nicely.  The onions came out a bit crispy; I may have over cooked them, but I actually like them almost burnt.  I think that this adds a natural salt to them, but that is just my preference.

My only regret is that I didn’t get to experience the “bang” in Bangers and Mash.  The sausages were originally called this because they would make a loud “pop” or “bang” in the skillet when cooking.  Because meat was rationed during in and around World War I and even World War II, the sausages were made with water.  If the sausages were overcooked, they literally popped with a “bang”.  Modern sausages don’t do this.  So I guess we don’t really have Bangers and Mash at all, rather we simply have Sausage and Mash.  And while this doesn’t sound all that festive, I guess it shouldn’t take anything away from our St. Patrick’s Day celebration.   Bangers and Mash is  actually an English dish and not Irish dish anyway, so maybe celebrating with Italian food wasn’t that far of a stretch after all.