It’s National Countryside Week from July 18 to 24 and the Prince’s Countryside Fund reckons it’s the ideal time to pack a picnic and find the perfect spot for some outdoors dining.
To celebrate the special week, award-winning sausage makers debbie&andrew’s have come up with a selection of fun sausage recipes that are perfect for eating outdoors (and just as good to eat inside, if the weather fails).
You could make Egg & Sausage Princely Picnic Pasties or create some Countryside Sausage Skewers for your picnic.
debbie&andrew’s make sausages that are free of gluten, wheat and dairy so even if you follow a special diet you can still cook up the Perfect Pork, Harrogate 97% or Perfect Cumberland sausages and eat them chilled on your chosen picnic day.
National Countryside Week
The aim is to raise awareness for the Prince’s Countryside Fund, which provides support to rural and agricultural communities. This year the focus is on raising awareness of just how precious and valuable the countryside and its farmers are.
To get involved and to find out where the nearest organised picnic is being held, National Countryside Week events.
debbie&andrew’s bangers&cash
You can also take advantage of debbie&andrew’s bangers&cash micro sponsorship scheme, which aims to support individual fundraisers in aid of the Prince’s Countryside Fund.
The scheme offers awards up to £1000 in cash to fundraisers to promote their event to reach more people and raise more money.
Free debbie&andrew’s sausages are also available for charity meals or fundraising barbecues.
How to make picnic pasties
Boil 2 eggs until hard (8 minutes), cool and peel carefully.
Squeeze a pack of debbie&andrew’s Perfect Cumberland sausage mixture (out of the skins) and mix together with a finely chopped onion.
Roll out a pack of shortcrust pastry into 18cm circles (enough for each egg) and place on a dusted baking tray.
Make a flat patty from the sausage meat and place in the centre of the pastry.
Sit a peeled egg in the middle of each, season with salt and pepper and pull the pastry sides over the egg and seal.
Crimp the edges and put on to the baking sheet. Brush each pasty with egg mix and chill for 30 mins.
Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Then bake the pasties for 25 mins.
Countryside Sausage Skewers
Preheat oven to 200C.
Chop vegetables such as pepper, squash, onion, courgettes and mushrooms into a baking tray. Smother with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of paprika. Roast for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile cook the debbie&andrew’s Harrogate 97% Pork sausages on the bbq or bake in the oven, until thoroughly cooked and brown all over.
Tear the sausage into chunks then thread the sausage and roasted vegetables onto the skewer in turn. You can use a twig of rosemary, stripped of its lower leaves for extra fragrance.
Fry or bbq each skewer for a short period until caramelised and golden.
For details on debbie&andrew’s micro sponsorship scheme, recipes and products see debbie&andrew’s or Facebook www.facebook.com/debbieandandrews or Twitter @d_a_sausages.
- debbie&andrew’s sausages are available in Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
debbie&andrew’s sizzling award
debbie&andrew’s is announced as a finalist in the 2016 Responsible Business Awards. This is a prestigious and rigorous awards scheme championing responsible business at home and abroad.
To celebrate, the sausage makers are seeking more local projects to support with their scheme.
Thanks to all the shoppers who have bought debbie&andrew’s famous sausages, the micro sponsorship scheme is able to show how supporting the small can have a large impact on communities, enabling fundraisers to go further, attract more attention and raise more money.
If you are fundraising for a project that brings “A Real Taste of the Country” to life, application forms for the scheme can be downloaded from www.debbieandandrews.co.uk