Healthy Moroccan Style Sausage Casserole

Low-Calorie Moroccan Style Sausage Casserole with Heck Chicken Sausages:

I haven’t given up cooking, though at times it may seem that all I am doing is eating out.  I have a store of healthy and tasty recipes that I’ve been working on over the last few months just waiting for Christmas to be over.  If you are anything like me, the idea of thinking about ‘healthy eating’ when there are mince pies, chocolates and turkey dinners to be enjoyed just goes out of the window.  But then there are dishes like this sausage casserole which masquerade as fattening, when in fact they are low in both fat and calories

This particular casserole is something I made to enjoy some rather special sausages that I was sent.  Heck, a small independent sausage producer, pride themselves on a range of interesting and unusual sausages. Their zesty chicken sausages have around 50 calories each when cooked, are completely gluten free and are low fat.  It’s a good start if you are planning a healthy dinner.  So the calorie count for the dish is under 300 calories.   Served with a small portion of rice or couscous, you have a meal that should be around 300 calories per portion (with 2 sausages)  but which still ticks all the boxes for a winter supper.  It’s warming, filling and beautifully spicy.  It also keeps well in the fridge for a day or so.  It’s also in no way authentic, I’ve called it Moroccan style because of the harrissa, olives, aubergine and preserved lemons.

If you wanted to make this into a one pot dish, you could easily do so by halving some baby potatoes and adding them into the mixture at the same time as the tomato and olives.  But, I rather liked the clean contrast of plain boiled rice here contrasting with the spicy sauce.

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Moroccan Chicken Sausage Casserole

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

35 mins

Total Time

40 mins

 

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: African

Servings: 4

Author: Fiona Maclean

Ingredients

• 8 Heck Zesty Chicken Sausages You could substitute your own choice of spicy or zesty sausages here, just remember the pairing with lemon.
• 1 Large Onion
• 2 Preserved lemons
• 1 Medium Aubergine
• 100 g Pitted green olives
• 1 can Chopped Tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Rose Harissa

Instructions

1. Slice the onion and then fry it in olive oil gently in a deep saute pan for 8-10 minutes, till soft. Remove from the pan
2. Fry the sausages over a medium heat till browned on all sides. Remove from the pan
3. Cut the aubergine into 1inch cubes and fry over a medium heat, turning frequently, till the edges are starting to turn golden
4. Add the tomatoes, harissa, sliced preserved lemon and olives to the pan, return the onion and aubergine to the pan and heat gently till simmering
5. Cook for 15 minutes then check seasoning and add salt, pepper and additional harissa if you require a more spice

I’m considering whether to restart the 5:2 diet in the New Year.  Towards the end of 2015, I found myself eating out so much that any kind of diet just went out of the window.  Generally, when I eat at home my diet is heavy on vegetables, fresh fish and homemade soups anyway, so I might simply modify my eating when I am out by option for fish or vegetarian options a little more.  I’m looking for a sustainable way of living – one that is healthy and makes me feel good.  Just a week of cooking for myself again has helped a lot – so perhaps I need to somehow translate that into how I eat when I am in a restaurant.

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Disclaimer:  I was sent samples of Heck sausages.  I was not required to write a review – all comments are editorially given