Southern Sausage Schmooblydong

Everyone in England loves sausages, and don't get me wrong, I love a sausage casserole with cameralised onions and mashed potato as much as the next person.  But there are a lot of variations from different countries on this classic, and sometimes paring sausages with more unconventional vegetables and spices can produce delicious results for a one-pot dish.  For example, the addition of tinned tomatoes with the spices and chillis makes an excellent liquor similar to that of chilli con carne, but mixed with the beautiful pork juices.  I like to serve this stew with rice in a jambalaya/gumbo style.

Serves 3-6
Preparation time (depending on how ninja you are with a knife!):  5 - 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes






Ingredients

Good quality sausages (2-3 per person, I was cooking for myself and my female ninja assailant, so I used 6)  I would recommend using a caremalised onion variety.
1 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 green pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 yellow pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped, yellow inner leaves reserved for garnish
4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1-2 fresh chillies, finely chopped (and deseeded if unlike me, you are not at the highest ninja level!)
3 spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
A small bunch of fresh curly parsley, roughly chopped
10 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
1 heaped tsp paprika
1 heaped tsp cayenne pepper
4 bay leaves
1 tsp sumak
1 tbsp onion flakes
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp celery salt
Pinch nutmeg
2-3 heaped tbsps plain flour
1 tbsp red wine vinegar (or any vinegar substitute will do)
750ml chicken stock (veg or lamb are fine too)
150ml lager
400g tin chopped tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Long grain rice to serve

1. Chop all your vegetables and prepare your spices.


 2. Put a glug of olive oil in large saucepan and cook the sausages until brown all over.  Remove from the pan using a slotted spoon and put on a plate.  Keep the fat and oil in the pan to fry the veg in.


3. From the other side of the kitchen, precisely throw the onion, peppers and celery in to the pan in the same way you would shoot a basketball through a hoop.  Or, if you are not a ninja, just put 'em in the pan.  Fry on a medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until soft.


4. Add the chilli, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and all of the spices, then fry for another couple of minutes.


5.  Pour some of the kick ass beer that you will be drinking in to the pot, and give everything a good stir round.  I find this helps all the flavours to merge and is a good way to moisten the mixture without adding more oil.  Then continue drinking.


6. Next, stir in the flour and the vinegar.  The flour has to cook out so cook for a couple of minutes, giving everything a good stir a couple of times.  Then add your sausages, chicken stock and chopped tomatoes, then stir again.  Add a good amount of salt and pepper (seasoning liberally is the way of the ninja!) Bring to the boil and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or until you have a nice, thick, tasty gravy.


7.  While the stew is simmering cook the rice according to the package instructions.  The secret ninja way is to guesstimate just enough water so that when the rice is cooked all the water has been absorbed in to the rice and the rice is glossy and starchy.

8.  To serve, put a ladleful of rice on the plate, and with a spoon or your fingers make a well in the middle.  Place two (or three) sausages in the well and ladle over the vegetables and lashings of gravy.  Top with chopped parsley, celery leaves and spring onions.  Enjoy with a big glass of Argentinian red wine!

"It was... there's no word to describe it. Schmooblydong? That's not it, but it's close."