How to Make Rustic Roasted Potatoes With Game Sausages

A Cosy Winter Dish

Rustic roasted potatoes with game sausages or traditionally prepared meats are a regular dish in any Romanian restaurant, especially in Transylvania.

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I grew up in the magnificent city of Brașov, surrounded by mountains. The ski resort was only fifteen minutes away, so I would go up to the slops even without the intention to practise winter sports, but only for a hearty meal at one of the restaurants that would offer traditional foods. And take my word, there is no better, tastier and delicious food than the traditional Romanian!

I had this dish with small and big game, from pheasant and quail to wild boar, venison or deer, typical game around Transylvania’s forests.

Of course, the restaurants’ chefs would cook game meat in a country fashion, and make a big fuss about how they present the dishes. Even a beef salad would look totally unexpected as Romanians are incredibly fussy customers! Because we know what we want and how we want it and quality must always prevail, especially when we pay for it! Not that restaurants are expensive in Romania!

You will find this country listed at the top of the best and cheapest travel destinations in many travel guides. But don’t be mistaken; cheap does not mean low expectations! It’s just the way the country’s economy works, for the time being.

Back to my rustic potatoes, I had some smoked deer sausages in the freezer, and this gave me the idea to re-create a taste that I missed since travel was practically non-existent in the past year.

Just the thought of enjoying a meal I crave and can’t wait to travel to Romania to enjoy was enough motivation to get me cooking a traditional country dish.

Ironically, my sausages were an Austrian export from yet another European country with a famous alpine culinary tradition.

However, I live in the UK and recently read an article saying that British woodlands recorded a deer invasion.

There was no demand for venison with an intermittent lockdown in the past year and restaurants were forced to close.
As an effect, the deer population boomed and reached new records, the total number being at the highest it’s been in the past thousand years!

Imagine that! Not since Alfred the Great’s time have so many deer roamed freely through the British woodland!
My mind would always go way beyond. Imagine time-travel works. What would a proper Saxon lost in time through quantic physics and electromagnetic waves say about us? A population in millions, going to the butcher to buy meat that only requires a bow and arrow to hunt and a big fire to cook! Pretty twisted!

I wonder if Amazon sells bows and arrows? But then I would need a licence to hunt. Nah! I feel guilty if I have to kill a fly!

Most certainly, I would not look a deer in the eye and see sausages! I would not eat it!
When I have it delivered to the door in plastic packaging, it does not look like a murder happened to satisfy a gourmet whim. I can enjoy them in my rustic roasted potatoes and game sausages dish!

Our humble Saxon would be puzzled beyond imagination!

Ingredients for Rustic Roasted Potatoes With Game Sausages

As the title suggests, the main ingredients in this recipe would be potatoes and game sausages – I had smoked deer sausages available. If you chose something else, make sure you follow the cooking instructions on the packaging.
A large onion
A few garlic cloves
A sweet pointed pepper (I only used it to give this dish some colour)
A glass of wine (to use in the actual cooking process; I’m not implying that you cannot enjoy one while cooking, too!)
Half a glass of extra virgin olive oil
Spices: black pepper, paprika, rock salt
Herbs: thyme and rosemary

Method

Wash and boil the potatoes for about 20 minutes. When ready cool, peel and cut the potatoes into equal wedges and place them in a large bowl.

Add spices and herbs and mix until they are nicely coated.

Place the potatoes into a roasting tray, sprinkle wine and oil and bake for about 30 minutes.

Add the sausages at the end, as they don’t need more than 5-10 minutes of cooking time if they are smoked. Watch they don’t burn! Charred meat (or any other food) contains a high amount of acrylamide which is connected with different types of cancer; best avoid it at all costs!

When ready, serve with sour cream if you wish or with freshly cut dill.

Rustic roasted potatoes with game sausages go well with a winter pickle salad if it happens to be at hand, or with a tomato salad. And a bottle of red!
Bon appetite!

A Cosy Winter Dish