Regular giveaways were held at the Vegan MoFo headquarters during the month of September and I was one of the lucky winners! I won a selection of Vegusto products. Vegusto are a Swiss company specializing in “meat and cheese alternatives”, all entirely vegan, free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatves, soya free and palm oil free.
I do prefer to stick to whole foods most of the time and haven’t really tried any of the meat or cheese “alternative” products out there, but I’d heard a lot of great things about Vegusto and was keen to give them a go.
I’ll be sharing what I’ve made with the other products and my thoughts on them over the coming days, but to start here’s a recipe which turned out really tasty, and which I made using their sausages . If you can’t find Vegusto where you live then try it using another brand of vegan sausages or make your own seitan sausages.
This Sausage, Lentil & Prune Stew is perfect winter comfort food. It’s hearty, filling and full of goodness.
Don’t be put off by the prunes! I know so many people associate them with their grannies, but, even if you don’t eat them normally ( I personally love them, as a snack instead of dried apricots or dates, or stewed with a cinnamon stick and orange slices) I promise they work in this dish and add a lovely richness and little bursts of sweetness, almost like in a tagine.
Vegan Sausage, Lentil & Prune Stew:
(Adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for The Guardian)
1T Olive oil (divided)
1/2 Onion, thinly sliced
1 small stick of celery, chopped (on the bias)
1 small carrot, chopped (on the bias)
1 large Vegusto sausage, or 2-3 regular-size vegan sausages, cut into slices (on the bias)
1/4C Puy lentils (green or brown would also be fine, but you may need to adjust cooking time accordingly)
1/3C Whole dried prunes (the soft-kind)
3/4C Vegetable broth
Sprig of fresh thyme
Salt + Pepper
Warm a pan with 1/2T olive oil over medium heat, add the onion and a pinch of salt and cover to cook for 10 minutes until very soft, stirring occasionally. Add the celery and carrots, re-cover and continue to cook for another 10 minutes until all the vegetables are soft.
Meanwhile, fry the sausage(s) in the remaining olive oil in a frying pan over high heat, flipping to brown all over.
Add the lentils, broth, prunes and thyme and stir gently. Top with the browned sausage, cover and simmer on low for approx 30 minutes until the lentils are cooked through and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 2
There’s plenty of flavour in this dish so I kept the sides simple and served it with a jacket potato and steamed broccoli.
Obviously it’s been quite a long time since I’ve had meat but this sausage really hit the mark for me. It’s got a great texture, firm but not overly chewy and with a delicious savoury flavour. I used the “Farmhouse-style” sausage (as that’s what I received) which is reminiscent of a frankfurter, but think their “Herb” or “Onion” sausages might have been more fitting.
Have you ever tried Vegusto products? Or do you like any vegan cheeses or meats?
Looking forward to sharing my experiences with the other products I was able to try.
Yum! This looks and sounds great. Hearty and filling^^
I really enjoyed it. If you can get hold of Vegusto or other vegan sausages do give it a try
sadly none of them are glutenfree
I used to love them.
Of course! I didn’t think about that
Have you come across this recipe for gluten-free sausages? It’s one I’d like to try myself
http://reallycrabbycrafter.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/gluten-free-vegan-sausages-from-scratch.html
or Johanna’s adaptation
http://gggiraffe.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/sausages-election-and-kath-and-kim.html
thanks, bookmarked^^
I’m not big on the “fake” meat and cheese substitutes out there either. Still, I use them occasionally. I’ve never heard of Vegusto, but if I see it anywhere I might try it out. Your stew looks fab! Celeste
Thanks Celeste. I think these kind of products are particularly good for transitioning vegans. I’m pretty used to, and love bean and legume based meals, with the odd bit of tempeh or tofu thrown in there! This was a very tasty change though.
I must be a great cook like Emma, because I too like to slice things ‘on the bias’.
Seriously, it looks great - but not much came across about your reaction to the sausage itself. You do tag this post ‘review’.
I’m kind of OK with Quorn - but not much else. I can’t really justify that, and it’s not that I use Quorn - except where it allows me to find some common ground with meat eaters.
Hehe, it just looks prettier like that!
Thanks for your feedback, I’ve just updated the post with my thoughts on the product. I’ll be sharing more in the coming days when I highlight the other products though.
I don’t eat Quorn as it has eggs in but can understand what you mean about finding some common ground with meat eaters. I went to a bbq recently and brought along some veggie sausages so I wasn’t the odd one out and so as not to cause too much of a fuss.
Love your blog! This looks delicious and oh-so-healthy!
Thanks Vanessa. I’m so pleased that you’re enjoying reading the blog
How many prunes and do you use dried? I think you forgot them in the recipe!
Whoops! Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve updated the recipe- I used 1/3C whole soft dried prunes (approx 50g)
I’ve recently been playing around with Vegusto products - I’ve had the sausages for a few weeks but not known what to do with them ! Thanks forthr inspiration !
I’d love to hear what you think of the products too. Glad I could provide a little inspiration
I love vegie sausages but am not so sure about them in stew - do it occasionally but I find them a bit soggy - I tried some in a baked stew recently which worked better - but I do love the idea of pairing them with lentils and prunes - two things I love - how did prunes ever get such a fuddy duddy image when they are so yummy!
Thanks for pointing that out Johanna. I realized that I actually just topped the stew with the sausages when it was cooking to give it a little flavour, rather than stirring them in as I too was worried they’d get soggy. I’ve updated the recipe. Though browning the sausage first might have made a difference? and this isn’t a very liquidy recipe either.
Glad to find another prune-lover!
Congratulations being the winner of Vegan MoFo - I thought the giveaway was for Violife cheese. I like eating prunes on its own, but not in savory dishes
and that stew looks hearty and wonderful with the Vegusto sausage - I never knew that they had vegan meat alternatives. I’ve only tried their cheese - No-Muh Krauter, I tried them in Austria and they were really good on saltine and wafer crackers. I like all kinds of vegan cheese and meat alternatives, it’s hard to list them all… I’m just glad there aren’t so many here in Argentina because I would have spent it all! If you ever visit the U.S., try Field Roast’s celebrate roast for Thanksgiving (miam miam) or Tofurky deli slices for the Philly cheesesteak sandwich!
Just seen your review of the Violife cheeses. They look really good too. I think there may have been a Violife giveaway running during Vegan MoFo too..?
I’ve heard great things about Field Roast!
Pre-vegan I never liked cheese and crackers but my tastebuds seem to have changed a lot over the years so I think I’ll try a couple of the Vegusto cheeses like that
I loooooove Vegusto! I’m usually too low on funds to buy alternative meat/dairy products (and don’t believe you should eat these too often, anyway) but every once in a while I splurge on Vegusto products. I’m really hoping they’ll become available in big supermarkets soon because for the moment I can only get them online, or sometimes in the odd health food store. This looks like such a lovely recipe - and I love that you added prunes (I’ve actually never cooked with prunes before… must remedy that).
Judging from how much of a hit they seem to be with everyone who’s tried them I’m sure they’re going to become more widely available. They’re not something I’m going to be eating on a regular basis but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed them and, I think once and a while a little “splurge” can’t hurt:) My Mum always likes it when I make seitan at home so I think she’d like these too!
That sounds like a lovely recipe. I used to make my own seitan sausage that was amazing, I do love the combination of sausage and lentils
I really loved the sausage and lentils together
I guess it’s fairly traditional to bulk up meat dishes with beans/legumes to make the meat go further.
Lucky you! I am a fan of Vegusto cheeses. Yummy on crackers.
I haven’t tried the sausages. I haven’t seen them in local stores. I agree that vegie sausages are ‘handy’ in certain contexts.
I’m going to have to try them on crackers/oatcakes since someone else has said they’re good like that too! I don’t think the Vegusto products are too widely available yet, at least not outside of London anyway.
Woohoo for winning! I have never heard of Vegusto products. I am totally on board with not buying mock meats and cheeses mainly because it can be expensive. But we still do eat and buy them on sale, especially the dried soy protein from the Asian store. I’m curious about this Vegusto brand. The stew looks really comforting.
I was just thinking, ‘hmm…this reminds me of a tagine’ then read on to see you’d compared it to that yourself! I bet the prunes add wonderful depth, delicious. 😀
Yup. I know lots of people don’t like fruit in savoury dishes, but I do, and prunes aren’t actually that sweet so they add more richness than sweetness.
Yes I agree about prunes adding more depth than sugary sweetness which I think is the perception! I love fruit in savoury so this is a winner for me 😀 Will get round to making it one day soon 😀
I didn’t even know they made sausages. But their cheeses are the best vegan cheeses in the world, I think.
Stay tuned to see what I made with the cheeses….:)
Yum! This looks so delicious, I love prunes in a savoury context and this looks like a prefect, warming, winter meal.
If was very scrummy. The Vegusto sausages were fantastic in it.