Green Bangers and Mash

 Another great winter vegetable recipe complete with a fun pub grub name. This was inspired by a Mark Bittman post on the New York Times Website. It's a Morning Star Farm Italian Veggie Sausage along side kale mashed potatoes. Both are delicious and even better together.

Kale Mashed Potatoes
Serves 2-4

2 Large Yukon Gold Potatoes
2/3s of a bunch of green curly kale
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
grated parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Heat some water to boil while you chop up your potatoes. Add them to the boiling water. Wash and rinse your kale, then chop it into inch strips or smaller. I don't use the thicker part of the stem, but you can if you like it. In a nonstick pan add kale and a bit of water for steaming. Cover with a large lid. Meanwhile chop up the garlic. After the kale has steamed for a couple of minutes, pour off any excess water (if there is any) and then add garlic, salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil. Saute on medium. As long as it has been at least 15 minutes, drain the potatoes and mash them in a bowl with salt pepper and the 1/4 cup of olive oil, stir in the sauteed kale. Personally, I view this next step as optional, but it's how Mark Bittman did it so I followed suit. Transfer your green mashed potato mixture to a greased oven proof baking pan. I used a souffle pan because that is what Mark Bittman did. Here I had to differ because I don't have any breadcrumbs, let alone homemade ones. So topped my dish with parmesan cheese and pepper. Bittman baked his dish for 15 minutes. I baked mine long enough to cook up my sausage, make tea and prep my camera for the photoshoot. The result was a very comforting, yummy dish: