In a typical British way, when I mentioned to my partner that I was going to make a sausage casserole, he was expecting a very stodgy sausage stew with gravy, mashed potatoes and a few vegetables. This is not it! This is a very delicate and fennel-scented sausage stew/casserole with plenty of creme fraiche, which adds a summery touch. It is also very strange (says my partner), as it is very creamy and yet does not involve any gravy whatsoever.
The recipe comes from the July edition of the BBC Good Food magazine, but, as usual, I added a few of my personal touches here and there, mostly to adapt the recipe to our taste and use up what we had in our fridge. I don’t want to be the one telling you what to eat, but this is a really good dish as it contains plenty of vegetables and only a few sausages, not to mention you can freeze it and re-heat it as and when needed. Please don’t worry if the sauce looks very liquid as this is perfectly normal. make sure you sure you serve the dish with plenty of crusty bread to absorb the sauce and it will be delicious.
Ingredients
- 8 good-quality sausages
- half a red onion, finely chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, quartered and then finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 green chilli, finely sliced, seeds removed
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- about 150ml white wine
- 500ml chicken stock
- 250g green beans, trimmed and halved
- 200g broad beans, podded
- 300g peas
- 200g creme fraiche
- 1 lemon, juice of
- handful of coriander and dill, finely chopped, to serve
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
Method
- Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the sausages and cook for a few minutes until browned all over, then remove from the pan and transfer to a plate.
- Tip the onion and the fennel slices into the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and half the green chilli, then cook for another 2 minutes.
- Stir the flour into the vegetables and move everything about for 1 minute, then pour in the wine and let it bubble. Add the chicken stock and return the sausages to the pan. Lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Add the green beans, peas, broad beans, the rest of the green chilli and cook cor about 2 minutes.
- Tumble in the creme fraiche, lemon juice, chopped parsley and dill. Season with salt and pepper, then cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.
Baking with Attitude 