(All Recipes have Gluten-Free Options)
Sausage & Charred Citrus Traybake (Serves 4)
I must admit that I would never have thought that the combination of these flavours would work as well as they do – but believe me they do! We have Ixta Belfrage’s incredibly inventive cookbook, Mexcla, to thank for this recipe. The charred citrus juices blend beautifully with the cooking juices to create a tasty, aromatic sweet and sour sauce while the chickpeas stirred in at the end of cooking make it a substantial one-dish bake. It’s very important to use good quality Italian style sausages for this recipe as their fatty juices will run into the veg and sauce and not dry out.
300g carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
1 red onion, cut into sixths
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 large mild red chillies, halved lengthways
3 tablespoons olive oil
1½ teaspoons maple syrup
½ teaspoon chipotle flakes
½ teaspoon Aleppo chilli or pul biber
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¾ teaspoon fine salt
8 good quality, fatty sausages, preferably Italian style (gluten-free if required)
90g water
1 lime, halved
1 tangerine, halved
200g tinned chickpeas, drained
For the Cucumber Salsa:
½ cucumber, peeled, halved, seeds removed
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons olive oil
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
5g fresh coriander, finally chopped
5g fresh chives, finally chopped
- Place the first 12 ingredients (everything from the carrots to the sausages) in a large roasting tin. Mix well, then spread the sausages out. Pour the water into the tin, around the sausages making sure that you don’t get them wet!
- Roast in a preheated oven, 200’c fan, for 35-40 minutes, turning the vegetables (but not the sausages) a couple of times, until the sausages are cooked through and the vegetables are golden brown.
- While the sausages are in the oven, place a large frying pan on a high heat. Once very hot place the citrus halves, cut side down in the pan and char for 3-4 minutes or until the cut sides are nicely charred.
- For the salsa, chop the cucumber into 1cm cubes and mix together with the lime juice, oil, and salt. Then, just before serving stir in the chopped herbs.
- Transfer the contents of the roasting tin to a platter and squeeze over the charred citrus then stir in the chickpeas. Top with some of the cucumber salsa, serving the rest on the side.
Bean Stew with Chorizo and Bacon (Serves 4)
This is a recipe from Claudia Roden’s ‘Med; A Cookbook’, it’s a soupy stew, perfect for supper plus, any left-overs will reheat beautifully to make a fantastic lunch!
2 tablespoons olive oil
200g unsmoked bacon lardons or pancetta
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
1 tomato, peeled and chopped
2 x 400g tins of cannellini or butter beans, drained and rinsed
250g chorizo, cut into slices
500ml chicken stock
4 thyme leaves
Sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil to serve
- Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the bacon or pancetta and the onion. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring, until the onion is soft. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is golden and the bacon crisp.
- Stir in the cinnamon, allspice, tomato, beans and chorizo. Pour in the stock, add the thyme sprigs and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes.
- Season with salt if necessary. Serve hot and pass round the extra virgin olive oil for people to drizzle on.
Baked Sausages with Chestnuts (Serves 4)
This seriously simple recipe from Diana Henry’s ‘Pure Simple Cooking’. Despite its simplicity it’s not your average sausage traybake – the addition of chestnuts and red wine lift it to higher realms! Simply serve with some creamy mashed potato (recipe here).
8 good-quality pork sausages (gluten free if required)
150g cooked vacuum-packed chestnuts
350g field mushrooms, cut into thick slices
1 large onion cut into half-moon-shaped wedges
1 bulb garlic, cloves separated but not peeled
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 sprigs rosemary
1 bay leaf
250ml red wine
Sea salt and black pepper
- Put everything except the red wine into a broad, shallow baking dish/ roasting tin. Turn the ingredients so that they are coated in olive oil.
- Roast in a preheated oven, 190’c fan, for 25 minutes. Pour in the red wine and cook for another 25 minutes.
- Serve with mashed (or roasted potatoes) and a salad of winter greens.
Baked Sausages with Leeks, Apples & Cider (Serves 4)
This is a fantastic midweek supper dish from Diana Henry’s cookbook ‘Pure Simple Cooking’, it’s perfect on a winter’s evening, but I’ve been known to serve it in all weathers!.. Serve with mashed potatoes (recipe here!)
3 leeks, washed and chopped into 1-inch lengths
2 apples, halved, cored and cut into wedges
8 good quality pork sausages (gluten-free if required)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper
30g salted butter, cut into small cubes
280ml cider
2 tablespoons coarse-grain mustard
- Put the leeks and apples into an oveproof dish and arrange the sausages in a single layer on top. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, and toss everything around. Dot with the butter and pour in the cider. Bake in a preheated oven, 190’c, for 50-60 minutes.
- About 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, spread the mustard over the sausages and any sticking-out apple pieces, and return to the oven.
- Serve with mashed potatoes (‘My Favourite Mashed Potato’ recipe here!)
Sausages with Grapes (Serves 4)
Kids and adults alike will love this dish, it’s a real crowd-pleaser. I have taken the recipe from Skye McAlpine’s cookbook ‘A Table for Friends’, she, in turn, took it from one of her favourite cookbooks…so it is one of those recipes that has done the rounds, and for good reason!…It is a dish that deserves the best pork sausages you can find and really needs little else, although some mashed potato would be good, or as McAlpine suggests, Fennel and Parmesan Purée (both recipes are here).
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 pork sausages (gluten free if required)
500g red grapes
240ml white wine
1 teaspoon cornflower
- Heat the oil in a deep frying pan or casserole over a low heat and add the sausages. Cook, turning occasionally until they are browned all over.
- Snip the grapes into small bunches, add these to the sausages, then pour in the wine.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until the sausages are cooked through and the wine has evaporated by half. Remove the sausages and grapes to a serving dish with a slotted spoon, leaving behind the cooking juices.
- To make the sauce, mix the cornflour with a tablespoon of cooking liquid in a small bowl, then add this to the juices in the pan. Bring to the boil, stirring, and simmer for 2 minutes until thickened. Serve with the sausages and sweet grapes.
Simple Sausages with Roasted Potato & Onion Wedges (Serves 4)
This is a great midweek supper, it’s more or less a matter of putting the ingredients in a roasting pan and leaving the oven to do its work!
900g large potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 – 4 fresh rosemary sprigs
2 red onions, peeled and each cut into eight wedges
8 sausages (gluten free if required)
Sea salt and black pepper
- Put the potatoes in a roasting tin drizzle over the olive oil and turn to coat, seasoning with salt and pepper. Place the rosemary on top. Place in a preheated oven, 200’c fan, for 20 minutes.
- Remove the roasting pan from the oven and add the onion wedges, toss with the potatoes so that they get a good coating of olive oil. Then put the sausages in between the potatoes and onions. Return to the oven for about 50 minutes to 1 hour.
- Serve with tenderstem broccoli or baked beans (Heinz!), and a dollop of tomato ketchup and mustard!
Penne Pasta with Sausage (Serves 4)
I regularly cook this pasta dish as not only is it very tasty but incredibly quick to make. Although just a pinch of nutmeg and cloves are added, they really do make the sauce. The recipe is from ‘Passion for Pasta’ by Antonio Carluccio, I first bought this book over 20 years ago, it became so tattered from over use that I had to buy a second copy! If you are gluten free, like me, you can use gluten free sausages – I get some great ones from my local butcher. You can also serve this sauce with gluten free pasta, I think these days it’s hard to fault it; I have given it to Nick and Felix before, when I’ve been too lazy to cook two types of pasta, and they’ve hardly noticed! I particularly like ‘Barilla’ and ‘Garofalo’ gluten free pasta.
*To watch the video of this sauce being made click here!
375g penne rigate (gluten free if required)
75g butter
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
300g pork sausage meat, removed from casings and broken up (gluten free if required)
1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
150ml dry white wine
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
75g freshly grated parmesan cheese
Sea salt and black pepper
- Melt the butter and gently fry the onion and garlic.
- Add the sausage meat, continuing to break it up, mixing it in with the onion and garlic. Fry gently until well browned.
- Add the wine and rosemary, reduce heat and cook gently for 10 minutes.
- Add the nutmeg, cloves and season with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile cook the penne according to the instructions on the packet, until al dente.
- Mix the sausage mixture with the parmesan cheese and add to the drained pasta.
Menu Mistress 