After four months of meat-free living last year, I've been back in the carnivorous fold for a while now. The legacy of the experiment is that I'm way better at whipping up meat-free meals, and they're pretty much the default position for my cooking. At the same time, I'm enjoying meat more, even as I eat less of it. Every morsel seems precious. Even things that used to have standby status are now treats.
Not that "treat" and "standby" are mutually exclusive. Bangers and mash, say, is one of the great standby treats. It's one of the ultimate comfort combinations: well seasoned, richly yielding meat with an irresistibly nearly-but-not-quite burnt exterior, and pillows of soft, buttery mash. Take your pick of mustard or ketchup to set them off, and you know you've come home. It's one of the great fixed points of the culinary universe. Of course, that's by no means the only way to showcase a decent sausage: this week I'm giving you four of my favourite ways to enjoy them, all incredibly simple.
There has been something of a renaissance of the British sausage inrecent years. We seem increasingly interested in them, and in the sort ofrobust, trencherman grub they represent. This boom in banger popularity is both a good and a bad thing. Good because there are now many fine sausages around, made with pork from well-raised pigs. Andbad because the alternative – therubbery, overminced, over-preserved, under-meated, scarily pink sausage perhaps best described as a by-product of the intensive meat industry – has also got a ready market. At their worst, sausages are a receptacle for the very dregs of what can be eked from a carcass, a symbol of all that's wrong with our food industry. At their best, they're superb examples of what good animal husbandry and skilful butchery can achieve. You don't have to be much of a food detective to work out the difference: the words "outdoor-reared" and "organic" point to good welfare for the porkers that provided your bangers, while a quick look at the ingredients reveals much about how they were made. When Imake sausages at home, all I add to the pork is a little rusk (important for a juicy, well-textured banger), salt, herbs and spices. I don't want much more than that in a bought sausage, either. Additives such as soya protein concentrate, dextrose, E-numbers and colourings speak of shortcomings in the basic ingredients that need covering up.
Once you have found the sausage that suits you, cooking it is a matter of the utmost simplicity. Which is not to say it cannot be done badly: the archetypal barbecue banger – black on the outside, still raw in the middle – is a case in point. It's easy to make the mistake of cooking sausages too hot and too fast. They're much better cooked slowly, so the outside turns deliciously brown and caramelised while the inside cooks gently but thoroughly. Cooking them in a moderate oven for at least half an hour is one way to do this; iffrying, keep the heat fairly low – agentle, soothing sizzle – turn often and cook for at least 20 minutes.
Roasted sausages, parsnips and onions
The oven is a wonderful tool for cooking sausages, rendering them more uniformly golden and sticky-skinned than frying or grilling. This delicious supper dish requires just one roasting tray and needs only good bread on the side. Serves four.
4-6 parsnips, peeled
3 medium onions (red, white or amixture)
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
8-12 sausages
100g unsalted butter
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
2-3 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leafparsley
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Quarter the parsnips from root to tip. If they have very coarse, woody cores, trim them out. Peel the onions, leaving the root end intact and, depending on size, cut into quarters or eighths from root to tip. Put the parsnips and onions in a roasting tin, trickle with oil and season well. Cover tightly with foil and roast for 30 minutes, oruntil the onions are tender.
Remove the foil, add the sausages to the tray, dot around the butter and sprinkle over the thyme. Return to the oven and roast for 20 minutes more, until the sausages are cooked and everything is golden and starting to caramelise. Allow to rest for five to 10 minutes before serving, scattered with parsley, with good bread and perhaps a glass of red wine.
Toad in the hole
This classic remains one of my favourite ways to cook sausages. Ifyou have the time, there's no better accompaniment than a rich onion gravy, though I have to confess I also enjoy mine with a spoonful or two of baked beans. Serves four.
2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil (or goosefat)
8 sausages
For the batter
150g plain flour
2 whole eggs
2 egg whites
200ml whole milk
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
Prepare the batter by putting all the ingredients in a food processor and whizzing together. (Alternatively, whisk the eggs, egg whites and milk, put the flour in a bowl, then gradually whisk in the liquids until you have asmooth batter). Either way, set aside the batter to rest for at least half an hour and up to two hours.
Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Pour the oil into a metal oven dish about 20cm by 25cm. Put the sausages in the tin and roast for 10 minutes. Give the batter another quick whisk. Remove the sausages from the oven, then quickly, while the fat is still spitting-hot, pour the batter into the tin. Return at once tothe oven, and bake for a further 20 minutes, or until puffed up and golden brown. Serve straight away, with steamed greens, mash and gravy – or baked beans.
Sausage and potato tortilla
A fantastic recipe for both leftover sausages and leftover spuds. Aslightly spicy sausage is nice here,such as a peppery cumberland; or, for a Spanish feel, use chorizo. Serves four to six.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled, halved and finely sliced
3-4 cooked sausages, thickly sliced
250-300g cold, cooked potatoes, thickly sliced
7 large or 8 medium eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
Heat the oil in a large, nonstick frying pan over a medium heat. Addthe onion and sweat for 15-20 minutes, until very soft. Stir in the sausage and potato, and cook for acouple ofminutes so they heat through.Heat theoven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4, or heat the grill to medium.
Beat the eggs, season generously and pour into the pan. Cook gently, without stirring, until the egg is about two-thirds set, with a layer of wet egg still on top, then transfer the pan to the oven or grill for four to five minutes, until the egg is set and the top starting to colour.
Remove the pan from the heat andleave to cool. Slide the frittata out of the pan on to a plate or board,and serve warm or at room temperature, cut into slices. A green salad is delicious with this – try some chicory leaves, or even very thinly sliced brussels sprouts, lightly dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Pasta with sausage and greens
Great if you want to make a few sausages go a long way – and a good way to entice younger ones into eating their greens. Serves four.
300g fusilli or penne
½ green cabbage (such as savoy), ora handful of spring greens, tough ribs removed, leaves shredded
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
4 sausages
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
Bring a large pan of salted water to aboil, and add the pasta. About three minutes before the end of the pasta's cooking time, add the cabbage to the same pot.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins and into the pan. Use a fork to mash the sausagemeat as it cooks, breaking it down into little chunks and crumbs. Keep cooking, mashing and stirring until crisp and golden-brown. Drain the pasta and cabbage, tip into the sausage pan, toss, season totaste and serve at once.
