To think bangers and mash implies veg too?

[Crowsaregreat]

My kids love sausage and mash. I always do it with at least one type of veg, preferably two. Peas, carrots, broccoli sort of thing.

We stayed with PIL a while ago and MIL did sausage and mash that was exactly that - sausage, mash, gravy. Then recently my DM did the same.

It won't do DC any harm but I thought it was odd. I don't think I'd ever give DC just meat + potato for dinner unless it was a desperate situation. AIBU to think it's weird to have a dinner with no veg?

Also mushy peas are evil

Mushy peas are a key source of Vitamin X, which is essential for the maintenance of flatulence.

It's actually pretty bizarre, when you think of it.

In a hundred years or so, we've moved from a position where vegetables were very much 'peasant food' (just like mussels etc. were for people who lived near the sea), to a position where eating lots of veg is seen by some as being a MC marker.

For meals like that the clue is in the name for me, when it comes to veg! If it's not in the title, it has no right to space on the plate. See also, steak and chips. Unless you're adding a "with mushroom" or specifying a sauce, it has no right to be on my plate.

Then again, I'd have something like that as a veg-free treat and put veg in other meals around it to ensure it can be a treat. I'm not a natural veg eater though; I do better with veggie meals designed to make the veg tasty and interesting than with a pile of usually sauce/seasoning /anything to make them actually taste passable free veg added to the side of an otherwise yummy treat meal, especially if it's a meal that doesn't come with a sauce or jus to hide them in.

Even now in my 30s, DM despairs when I describe a side of veg as "duty eats".

I guess it depends how much you add.

Also I think it depends on how long you cook it for. A base to a cottage pie or lasagne or mousaka takes quite a long cooking time simmering even before put in the oven. I wouldn’t count the nutritional value of a couple of long cooked carrots divided by 4 portions as the same as the value of a quicker cooked side accompaniment of veg or salad. And again, for me, that’s as much to add texture and colour to the plate as nutrients.

a couple of long cooked carrots divided by 4 portions

If this is the kind of portion you're talking, that really is miniscule!

if this is the kind of portion you're talking, that really is miniscule!

If you look at a recipe for bolognese or cottage pie for 4 I doubt they’d use more than 2 carrots, 2 sticks celery and 1 large onion.

This is why most recipes are shite. (imo)

Seriously though, bolognese / cottage pie I cook my own way, but if I'm trying a new recipe I will quite frequently double the amount of veg specified, because it's always inadequate. A stir fry with 4 spring onions that apparently serves 4 people for example.... complete rubbish!

But then it would overwhelmingly taste of carrots. The carrot is a flavouring to bring out a little sweetness, not to totally overpower the dish.

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

This is why most recipes are shite. (imo)

most recipes of the many thousands of recipes in the world are shite.

okay.

Sometimes I do sometimes I don’t…just what I have in the house really.

most recipes of the many thousands of recipes in the world are shite.

Ok, that was a slight exaggeration, but I don't take the proportions in recipes as gospel.

I tend to put more garlic, onion, carrot and celery in my bolognese, and I swap the meat for either quorn or lentils. The sauce is tomato, stock, rosemary and wine based, and I can assure you it doesn't just taste of carrots!

I have to adapt meat-based recipes anyway, as I don't eat meat, but I normally experiment when I cook, because I enjoy doing so.

The veg element is dictated by the name of the dish. Bangers and mash = just sausages, mash and gravy. Veg as well = sausages, peas and mash.

I hate when people add random vegetables into a dish because they think every dinner has to have a set amount of veg.

Sweet corn with roast beef for example. NO THANK YOU.

Vegetables, whilst of course great, aren’t the be all and end all. Nutrient dense foods like eggs and oily fish will give you more bang for your buck than a green salad. And having a healthy diet is also about what you’re not eating too. If you scoff a packet of biscuits and crisps a day they’re not going to be cancelled out because you’ve also met some arbitrary veg count.

With regards to the dish in hand I’d serve bangers and mash with fried onion gravy and some peas.

Always with beans or peas.

Baked beans are the devil's work. I realise other people are quite fond of the things though

If you go back 100 years, many of the traditional British meals like cottage pie would have contained much more veg and less meat than the modern versions do, because that's what people could afford.

A casserole, hotpot, stew or soup would have traditionally been mostly veg with some pieces of meat in, not the other way around.

Sweet corn with roast beef for example. NO THANK YOU.

Agreed, that's just bizarre.

The only meal I ever eat that doesn't include an element of fruit and / or vegetables, is fish & chips. TBH, if they're available, I'd have pickled cabbage or sauerkraut with that as well.

It would never occur to me not to serve a meal up without at least 2 types of vegetables. DH really annoys me as he frequently forgets to prepare any if he's making the dinner.

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

Sweet corn with roast beef for example. NO THANK YOU.

Agreed, that's just bizarre.

Agree about the sweetcorn and the random places it turns up in MN cooking.

I like to look out for the cucumber antidote. Some posters will admit to serving a less than perfectly balanced evening meal but it has to have cucumber served with it as if it magically makes up for any meals that aren't up to their usual standards.

No bangers and mash doesn't imply vegetables as well. Just like fish and chips doesn't imply vegetables. However, I find it odd that anyone wouldn't serve salad or vegetables alongside a meal. It's very unhealthy not to have any vegetables with a main course. But then I guess not everyone likes vegetables or thinks they're a necessary part of a meal...weirdos.

It's very unhealthy not to have any vegetables with a main course.

but it's not. it's pointless to look at meal in isolation like that.

It's very unhealthy not to have any vegetables with a main course. But then I guess not everyone likes vegetables or thinks they're a necessary part of a meal...weirdos

But they might have had them as snacks, or as part of other other meals during that day. Or sausage and mash or fish and chips might be something they don't have very often.

Not having vegetables as part of meals that don't really need them does not necessarily make a diet unhealthy.

@DamsonJammyBastard

It's very unhealthy not to have any vegetables with a main course.

but it's not. it's pointless to look at meal in isolation like that.

Have you seen how many obese people there are in this country? How many kids are overweight? That isn't a problem caused by a one-off isolated non-serving of vegetables. It's because people routinely over-eat crap and under-eat the good stuff. So yes, it is bloody unhealthy to be filling up on massive portions of mash potato (and no veg) when they could have a smaller portion of mash and a decent portion of vegetables. People who don't see the importance of nutritionally balanced meals are the ones who don't serve vegetables with meals.

@DamsonJammyBastard

Baked beans are the devil's work. I realise other people are quite fond of the things though

I agree - they are FILTH!

Mind you, my kids would have lived on them if I'd let them.