These days there are many different styles and flavours of quality sausages available instore, from the traditional banger to cured salami and chorizo. If pork isn't your favourite then try beef, venison, lamb, wild boar or vegetarian. It's always worth spending that little bit more on really good ones if you’re using them in a main meal, like our Taste the difference range.
Spicy sausage pasta
Fry a chopped onion with a clove of garlic, add 4 chopped sausages and 1 diced red pepper, and fry until cooked. Add a tin of passata or chopped tomatoes, and a teaspoon each of chilli powder and paprika, then cook until reduced slightly. Toss with cooked tagliatelli and a handful of chopped parsley. Serve with crusty bread.
Chipolatas in honey and mustard
Bake a dozen chipolatas in a baking dish at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 until they’re nice and brown and cooked through. Add a drizzle of honey and a little mustard, and roll them around in it. Throw back in the oven for a few minutes, then serve on coctail sticks as snacks.
Sausage sarnies
Grill pork sausages until they are cooked through, and keep warm. Fry 1 sliced red onion in butter with a pinch of brown sugar and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Butter 2 thick slices of white bread or ciabatta, spoon over the onion and sausages over 1, and top with ketchup or tomato relish, and the second slice. Fold in half and serve.
Sausage and bean stew
Gently fry 2 shallots, 1 red pepper and a garlic clove until soft. Stir in 1 teaspoon paprika and cook for a further minute. Add 2 cans chopped tomatoes and 150ml red wine, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently. Meanwhile, grill 8 thick pork and beef sausages until crisp and brown. Add 2 cans drained flageolet beans and the sausages to the pan, and simmer for a further 20 minutes before serving.
Bangers and mash
Fry your favourite sausages until almost cooked through, then add 1 crushed clove of garlic and 1 chopped onion to the pan, and continue frying until browned. In the meantime make gravy in a jug from 2 teaspoons flour gradually mixed with splashes of water until smooth, beef stock cube mixed with 150ml boiling water, and a teaspoon of English mustard. Bubble together with the sausages, and serve over fluffy mashed potatoes.
Sausage with caramelised apples
Fry slices of 4 pork sausages in butter, add slices of a Granny Smith apple and fry until browned. Sprinkle over some sugar and a drop of calvados or cider, and then a swirl of single cream. Serve with cooked red cabbage, mashed carrot and roughly mashed potato.
Sausage and red wine casserole
Heat oil in a casserole pan and brown 6 pork sausages. Remove from the pan, and fry 150g bacon and 2 chopped onions. Sprinkle in 20g plain flour and stir in 350ml red wine. Add 1 clove crushed garlic, a bay leaf, tablespoon fresh thyme, can chopped tomatoes and the sausages, and season well. Cover simmer gently for 30 minutes. Add 150g small whole button mushrooms, cook for a further 20 minutes and serve.
Spanish tortilla with chorizo
Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan, add 500g par-boiled new potatoes, 1 sliced onions, 1 sliced yellow pepper and 150g sliced chorizo, cover and cook for 5-8 minutes. Add to a bowl of 5 eggs beaten with salt, freshly ground black pepper and 20g fresh parsley. Wipe the frying pan with kitchen paper, pour the mixture back in and cook for 10-15 minutes. Finish under a moderate grill until golden brown. Loosen the edges with a knife, invert onto a plate and slice.
Sausages braised with lentils
Fry 8 sausages until they are browned all over, add 1 chopped onion and garlic clove, and fry. Add a handful of puy lentils, a sprig of thyme and a tin of beef consommé or clear, light broth, and cook everything until the lentils are tender. Add a dollop of crème fraîche and some grain mustard, stir together and serve.
Sausage rolls
Cook your sausages and cool them completely. Roll out a pack of ready-made pastry to about 3mm thick, cut into strips the length of your sausages, and roll them up neatly so they are completely enclosed. Brush with egg yolk and bake at 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 until the pastry is puffed and golden.
