Sausages for kids and big kids have always been popular in my family, so I have collected some exceedingy good recipes for you guys to try at home. 
Best bangers and beans - ever.
Preparation time less than 30 minutes
Cooking time between 10 and 30 minutes.
6 flavoured meat sausages, i.e. venison, wild boar, pork etc
3 tbsp/45g clear honey
2 tbsp/30g grain mustard
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
olive oil
125g/4oz diced pancetta or streaky bacon
paprika
½ red chilli, chopped (optional)
1 large tin of baked beans
1. Cook the sausages in a frying pan in a little olive oil and colour on all sides. Once cooked, remove from the pan, return the pan up to a high heat and add the honey, cook for about 30 seconds before adding the grain mustard and thyme and then place the sausages back into the pan and coat with the glaze. Remove and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, cook the diced pancetta or bacon in a little olive oil with a tsp of paprika and chilli if using. Once the bacon is crisp, add the whole tin of baked beans and cook for a few minutes before serving with the glazed sausages and a baked potato (optional).
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More bangers and beans!
Tell them this is what cowboys have for dinner. Children really seem to fall for that stuff.
You need
Olive oil
Sausages ( 2 per child)
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 400g can cannellini beans
1 400g can tomatoes
1 tbsp black treacle or golden
syrup or dark brown sugar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Fry the sausages in the oil in a heavy-based frying pan, then take them out while you cook the onions in the sausage juice until they're golden. Add the beans (rinsed), tomatoes, treacle/syrup/sugar, the Worcestershire sauce and 150ml boiling water. Cook for a few minutes and then put in the sausages and bring to one glorious crescendo!
~ * ~ * ~
Canned beans are a great base for a quick meal. Adapt some of the pasta sauces to stir in with them, such as that old favourite - pesto and potatoes.
You need
2 medium potatoes (peeled and diced)
2 tins of your favourite beans (perhaps not kidney)
A bit less than half of one jar of ready-made pesto, or some of your home-made
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
Cook the potatoes and about five minutes before they are done, add the beans, washed of all their tinny juices. Drain and put veg aside. Put the pan back on the heat, mix the butter, olive oil and pesto until it all sizzles, then gently tip back the beans and potatoes and give a stir. Serve up with grated cheese.
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Nigel Slater's.....
Sausage Toad with Browned Onion and Madeira Gravy
(His words)
I am not sure that getting fancy with a classic dish like toad in the hole can come to any good. I have added mustard because I think it flatters the sausage, and wrapped the bangers in ham to make the dish more substantial, but that is as far as I go. This dish has a homely quality that defies meddling. There are those who like a bit of batter with their sausages and those who prefer a bit of sausage, with their batter. I am fondest of the batter - both the crusty bits on top and the soggy underneath - so I make my toad in a wide dish to give plenty of room around the sausages for the batter to swell. Then, of course, there's onion gravy
Serves 4
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup milk mixed with 2/3 cup cold water
1 level tablespoon grain mustard
6 fat, herby pork sausages
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, pancetta, serrano ham or even thin streaky bacon
3 tbsp. drippings or lard
Method:
Mix the eggs, flour, milk, mustard and some salt and pepper together with a whisk, beating out any little lumps of flour as you go. The consistency should be about that of heavy cream, but no thinner. Leave to rest for fifteen minutes.
Cut the skin from each sausage and peel off. Wrap each skinned sausage in prosciutto or whatever you are using. Put the dripping or lard in a baking pan - I use a 11 x 8 inch roasting pan - and place in an oven preheated to 425F until it is smoking. Pour in the batter - it will sizzle softly in the hot fat - then arrange the sausages in it. Bake for twenty-five to thirty minutes, till puffed and golden. Serve with Browned Onion and Madeira Gravy.
Browned Onion and Madeira Gravy
I first intended this gravy to be poured over my toad in the hole but now make it for mashed potatoes, potato cakes, liver and braised vegetables (it is sensational with celery that has been braised in vegetable stock). It keeps for a couple of days in the fridge and is glorious poured over steaming hot, over bubble and squeak.
a very thick slice of butter
2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
flour, no more than a level tablespoon
1/3 cup Madeira, Marsala or red wine
1 cups stock
Worcestershire sauce
Melt the butter in a heavy based pan, add the onions and cook over a low heat till golden and soft. Now continue cooking, covered with a lid, until the onions are truly brown and soft enough to crush between your fingers.
Stir in a level heaped tablespoon of flour and cook for a few minutes until it has lightly browned, then pour in the liquids. Season with salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat so that the gravy bubbles gently and leave for about fifteen minutes, stirring from time to time.
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And best ever mashed potato to enjoy with the above.
For a fluffy mash, rich with butter, this recipe is the one for you.
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Serves 4
2 lb /900 g floury potatoes, such as King Edwards, Maris Piper or Desirée
3½ / 100g butter 100ml hot milk, not essential but gives a fluffier mash
Rinse the potatoes, put them in a large pan of cold water and bring up to the boil. Salt generously and partially cover with a lid. Simmer until the potatoes are tender to the point of a knife, then drain them.
Pull off the skins - they should peel away easily. You can wear rubber gloves if you like, or struggle with an oven glove. I hold them in my hands as best I can and tell myself a little pain is good for me.
Throw the hot, peeled potatoes back into the pan and return them to the heat. Hold them briefly over the heat to dry off completely and become even fluffier. Mash them with the butter using a metal potato masher. There should be no lumps.
Pour in the milk, which should be hot rather than boiling, and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon or Kenwood beater till it is fluffy and light. You might want to add more salt. One must work quickly if the mash is to be hot. And it must be hot, and buttery, gloriously buttery.
Best bangers and beans - ever.
Preparation time less than 30 minutes
Cooking time between 10 and 30 minutes.
6 flavoured meat sausages, i.e. venison, wild boar, pork etc
3 tbsp/45g clear honey
2 tbsp/30g grain mustard
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
olive oil
125g/4oz diced pancetta or streaky bacon
paprika
½ red chilli, chopped (optional)
1 large tin of baked beans
1. Cook the sausages in a frying pan in a little olive oil and colour on all sides. Once cooked, remove from the pan, return the pan up to a high heat and add the honey, cook for about 30 seconds before adding the grain mustard and thyme and then place the sausages back into the pan and coat with the glaze. Remove and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, cook the diced pancetta or bacon in a little olive oil with a tsp of paprika and chilli if using. Once the bacon is crisp, add the whole tin of baked beans and cook for a few minutes before serving with the glazed sausages and a baked potato (optional).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
More bangers and beans!
Tell them this is what cowboys have for dinner. Children really seem to fall for that stuff.
You need
Olive oil
Sausages ( 2 per child)
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 400g can cannellini beans
1 400g can tomatoes
1 tbsp black treacle or golden
syrup or dark brown sugar
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Fry the sausages in the oil in a heavy-based frying pan, then take them out while you cook the onions in the sausage juice until they're golden. Add the beans (rinsed), tomatoes, treacle/syrup/sugar, the Worcestershire sauce and 150ml boiling water. Cook for a few minutes and then put in the sausages and bring to one glorious crescendo!
~ * ~ * ~
Canned beans are a great base for a quick meal. Adapt some of the pasta sauces to stir in with them, such as that old favourite - pesto and potatoes.
You need
2 medium potatoes (peeled and diced)
2 tins of your favourite beans (perhaps not kidney)
A bit less than half of one jar of ready-made pesto, or some of your home-made
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
Cook the potatoes and about five minutes before they are done, add the beans, washed of all their tinny juices. Drain and put veg aside. Put the pan back on the heat, mix the butter, olive oil and pesto until it all sizzles, then gently tip back the beans and potatoes and give a stir. Serve up with grated cheese.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nigel Slater's.....
Sausage Toad with Browned Onion and Madeira Gravy
(His words)
I am not sure that getting fancy with a classic dish like toad in the hole can come to any good. I have added mustard because I think it flatters the sausage, and wrapped the bangers in ham to make the dish more substantial, but that is as far as I go. This dish has a homely quality that defies meddling. There are those who like a bit of batter with their sausages and those who prefer a bit of sausage, with their batter. I am fondest of the batter - both the crusty bits on top and the soggy underneath - so I make my toad in a wide dish to give plenty of room around the sausages for the batter to swell. Then, of course, there's onion gravy
Serves 4
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup milk mixed with 2/3 cup cold water
1 level tablespoon grain mustard
6 fat, herby pork sausages
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, pancetta, serrano ham or even thin streaky bacon
3 tbsp. drippings or lard
Method:
Mix the eggs, flour, milk, mustard and some salt and pepper together with a whisk, beating out any little lumps of flour as you go. The consistency should be about that of heavy cream, but no thinner. Leave to rest for fifteen minutes.
Cut the skin from each sausage and peel off. Wrap each skinned sausage in prosciutto or whatever you are using. Put the dripping or lard in a baking pan - I use a 11 x 8 inch roasting pan - and place in an oven preheated to 425F until it is smoking. Pour in the batter - it will sizzle softly in the hot fat - then arrange the sausages in it. Bake for twenty-five to thirty minutes, till puffed and golden. Serve with Browned Onion and Madeira Gravy.
Browned Onion and Madeira Gravy
I first intended this gravy to be poured over my toad in the hole but now make it for mashed potatoes, potato cakes, liver and braised vegetables (it is sensational with celery that has been braised in vegetable stock). It keeps for a couple of days in the fridge and is glorious poured over steaming hot, over bubble and squeak.
a very thick slice of butter
2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
flour, no more than a level tablespoon
1/3 cup Madeira, Marsala or red wine
1 cups stock
Worcestershire sauce
Melt the butter in a heavy based pan, add the onions and cook over a low heat till golden and soft. Now continue cooking, covered with a lid, until the onions are truly brown and soft enough to crush between your fingers.
Stir in a level heaped tablespoon of flour and cook for a few minutes until it has lightly browned, then pour in the liquids. Season with salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat so that the gravy bubbles gently and leave for about fifteen minutes, stirring from time to time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And best ever mashed potato to enjoy with the above.
For a fluffy mash, rich with butter, this recipe is the one for you.
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Serves 4
2 lb /900 g floury potatoes, such as King Edwards, Maris Piper or Desirée
3½ / 100g butter 100ml hot milk, not essential but gives a fluffier mash
Rinse the potatoes, put them in a large pan of cold water and bring up to the boil. Salt generously and partially cover with a lid. Simmer until the potatoes are tender to the point of a knife, then drain them.
Pull off the skins - they should peel away easily. You can wear rubber gloves if you like, or struggle with an oven glove. I hold them in my hands as best I can and tell myself a little pain is good for me.
Throw the hot, peeled potatoes back into the pan and return them to the heat. Hold them briefly over the heat to dry off completely and become even fluffier. Mash them with the butter using a metal potato masher. There should be no lumps.
Pour in the milk, which should be hot rather than boiling, and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon or Kenwood beater till it is fluffy and light. You might want to add more salt. One must work quickly if the mash is to be hot. And it must be hot, and buttery, gloriously buttery.
