The other day I went to the shops to buy a mate a cookbook. I bought one for him and three books for ME. That’s fair, don’t you think?
One of my purchases was Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros (it was on special and I can’t resist a bargain). I was flicking through it and this recipe caught my eye. I fiddled with the quantities a bit so feel free to do the same. The original recipe serves eight which is just a bit too much for two people. These quantities would serve three or four.
Ingredients:
- 375g good quality sausages
- 400g of diced tomatoes (fresh, canned or preserved)
- 4 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 tbs (15mls) olive oil
- 15g butter
- ½ red onion, finely chopped
- ¾ tsp paprika
- a piece of cassia bark or ½ a cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and pepper to taste
- a pinch of sugar
- 2 tbs chopped parsley
- Slice the sausages into thirds.
- Heat the oil and butter in a pan and sauté the onion for a couple of minutes over medium heat.
- Add the paprika and cook for 30 seconds or so.
- Add the sausages and cook until lightly browned.
- Add the potatoes, tomatoes, cassia and bay leaf.
- Add about ½ cup (125mls) of hot water.
- Season with salt, pepper and sugar and bring to the boil.
- Cover, lower the heat and leave until the potatoes are cooked through (about 30-45 minutes).
- When the potatoes are cooked, stir in the parsley and serve.
Passion Fruit Garden 
Ah, it looks like you Aussies know the difference between cassia and canela – we Americans do not! For centuries, we’ve been offered the far east version of cinnamon known as cassia, and now think that this is real cinnamon – of course, the sellers of cinnamon have not helped clear up the confusion, since it was in their economic interest not to help. Only because of my travels to Mexico, did I become aware that there was another kind of cinnamon. I like them both and find that there are some uses where cassia is preferred over the more subtle canela.
Hope you enjoyed the Olympics – now that they’re over, I can get back to regular life. (sorry about the swimming)
Doc, you are too cruel mentioning the swimming:( What about the sailing??
I just read that in Australia and England it is illegal to sell cassia as cinnamon which may explain why we make the distinction. In France, canelle refers to both cinnamon and cassia. Similarly, in the US, there is no restriction on the naming of cinnamon and cassia, cinnamon being the name used most often to describe both.
Yes, our ‘business friendly’ Congress tends to ignore such trivialities, especially when there’s an envelope of cash as a reward to do so – but actually, our influx of Hispanic immigrants have done much to fix the problem – all one needs to do is to trundle down to the nearest Mexican grocery and get what they call canela – and you have true cinnamon.
Is sailing really an Olympic sport?