Byron Potatoes

 

We love potatoes in this house. In fact I would hazard to say that for both of us, the potato is our favourite vegetable!

 

They go with literally everything and can be the perfect canvas upon which to layer a multitude of other flavours.

 

We love them boiled, steamed, mashed, baked, fried and deep fried.  We like them anyway we can get them.  Mind you, we don't have them fried very often, but now and then, they are a real treat!

 

If I had to pick a favourite way to enjoy them, I guess baked would be my top choice, followed by fried.  I could eat a baked (Or Jacket potato as they are often called over here in the UK) any time of the day and on it's own with nothing but salt, pepper and butter and be quite happy. 

 

Byron potatoes.  Baked potatoes with a hole smashed into the centre and filled with cheese and cream. Nothing, NOTHING sounds bad about that.  I thought perhaps they were a take from the late Lord Byron, but alas, not so . . .  these are instead based on a French Recipe for Byron Potatoes, which uses parmesan and cream.  Taken from a book of mine called Potato, by Alex Barker and Sally Mansfield.  These are atrociously good.

 

We enjoyed them with some tasty sausages and English peas.  You need to try them, and see if you don't agree with me when I say that these are very, very good! They are also incredibly simple.  Good and simple both work for me.

 

*Byron Potatoes*

Serves 6

Printable Recipe 

 

Baked potatoes with a rich and creamy filling. 

3 baking potatoes

120g grated strong cheddar cheese (1 cup)

6 TBS single cream

fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Prheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Scrub the potatoes really well.  Pat dry.  Prick with a fork and then bake directly on a middle oven rack for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. The potato will yield to slight pressure when it is done. 

Remove the potatoes from the oven. Using oven gloves to hold them, cut them in half horizontally.  Place halves on a baking sheet.  Make a shallow dip in the centre of each potato with the back of a spoon.  Mix the cheese and cream together and divice between the potatoes. 

Heat the grill/broiler.  Pop the potatoes beneath the grill until the cheese melts and bubbles.   Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot.

  I was recently sent some MOR Sausages to try out and hopefully, enjoy. As you know I am always keen to try something new.  We British do love our bangers, but bangers are often very high in fat, which can contribute to raised cholesterol and heart conditions.  We are always being touted to try to get more veg into diets, with advised levels now being raised to as many as 15 servings a day.  Wow, that is hard to get in for most people.  MOR Sausage have tackled this problem admirably with these new sausages, in an attempt to make your favourite midweek meals, guilt free.  Each of the four unique MOR recipes blend high-quality British meat with nutritious vegetables, fragrant herbs, and delicate spices, creating lower-fat sausages that actually taste terrific! They are also gluten free.

With four delicious flavours, MOR can be served with everything from mashed potato to herby pesto, helping you to make MOR out of mealtimes.  I pan grilled all four and we taste tested them with our potatoes today.  Here are my findings and opinions.

 

Pork, Beetroot & Bramley Apple - containing British pork, beetroot and Bramley apple with Spinach, brown rice, honey, caraway seeds, onion, black pepper and basil.   Containing less fat they are made with vegetables known for being sources of vitamins A, B, C and K as well as potassium, fibre and iron.  

These were fairly nice.  I thought they would taste more fruity or beetrooty and had been looking forward to that aspect, but the flavour of neither the apple or beetroot was very prominent.  They were quite simply well flavoured.  In all actuality, I think the apple and beetroot would be better if they were grated rather than chunked.  I did not care for the hard bits that much, but the overall flavour was good. 8 out of 10 for these.

 

Pork, Super Green Veg & Lentil - British Pork, asparagus, peas, spinach, green lentils, onion and coriander tumbled in a sweet chilli dressing. A super green blend of vitamin rich vegetables, and eah serving contains less fat than classic pork sausages.

I love, LOVED these.  They were my favourite of all the sausages.  They had a lovely flavour with just enough spice and I thought the green vegetables and lentils really helped to enhance the natural sweetness of the pork.  10 out of 10 for these.

 

Moroccan Spiced Pork, Cauliflower & Chickpea - British pork, cauliflower, chickpeas, red pepper and coriander blended with warming harissa paste and a touch of honey.  Each serving contains much less fat than standard sausages.  They have also used vegetables that are high in protein, fibre, and vitaims B6, C and K.

I was prepared not to like these as I am not normally fond of Chorizo sausage they smelled and looked a bit like Chorizo.  However, I was pleasantly surprised.  They had quite a pleasant flavour and texture.  We quite liked.  I would give them an 9 out of 10.

Chicken, Sundried Tomato & Basil Chipolatas - British chicken blended with cherry tomatoes, red and green peppers, spring onions, red onions, basil and sun-dried tomato paste. With just 4% fat and 1 % sugar per serving, these are the lightest MOR sausages.  They are made with vegetables which contain calcium, iron and a range of vitamins.

I was also not sure if I would like these as I am not a fan of the flavours or textures of chicken sausage. I was very pleasantly surprised.  They had a nice texture and flavour.  They were my second favourite of all the sausages, coming in only at slightly behind the Super Green Vegetable & Lentil ones.  I would happily buy both of those flavours.  I give them 9 3/4 out of 10, only because the Super Green Vegetable & Lentil ones were my clear favourite of all of them.

Overall, I thought these sausage were very nice for the most part,  and I love that they are providing consumers and families with a healthier option, lower in fat and higher in veg content.  Some low fat sausages can have a tendency to be dry and flavourless. Not so these, they were moist and filled with flavour! I highly recommend. They are available at Tesco.

Many thanks to the together agency and MOR for sending me these sausages to try.  Although I was sent them free of charge to try, I was not required to write a positive review.  Any and all opinions are my own and I have endeavored to be honest in all of my findings.