Canellini Bean & Applewood Sausages with Seasonal Mash

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

This is a homely sausage, with a subtle smoked flavour, a good all year round main course. Serve with mash on a cold winter day or if the sun decides to shine they’re very tasty with a salad.

Serves 4
Preparation time 20 minutes
Cooking time 40 minutes
*Can be vegan

Ingredients

For the sausages

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
1 standard can of cannellini beans, drained
50g wholemeal breadcrumbs
100g vegetarian smoked Applewood cheese (*use smoked tofu plus 50g finely chopped hazelnuts for vegan version)
Salt and pepper
2 large free range eggs, beaten (*omit for vegan version)
50g wholemeal breadcrumbs, for coating (*use finely chopped nuts for vegan version)

For the mash

1kg white potatoes and other seasonal root vegetables, peeled and chopped
100g kale, chopped
A knob of butter/vegan margarine
2 tsp hot horseradish sauce (*use vegan version if preferred)

To serve

500g broad beans
500g peas

Procedure

Fry the onions in 1 tbsp of oil until soft then add the garlic and smoked sweet paprika.
Continue to fry for another 30 seconds.
Put the fried onion mixture in a food processor along with the beans, breadcrumbs and cheese, and season with salt and pepper.
Whizz until the mixture becomes a paté consistency.
Form and roll the mixture into 8 sausages.
Dip each one in the beaten egg and then roll in the extra breadcrumbs.
Shallow fry the sausages two at a time, turning only when the bottoms have browned first to avoid their falling apart. (*If making the vegan version, coat in the nuts and grill under a moderate heat, turning occasionally.) This should take around 8mins.
While the sausages are cooking prepare your mash by boiling the vegetables for 20-25 minutes, or until soft.
Drain and mash thoroughly.
Stir in the butter or vegan margarine and horseradish.
Serve the sausage with the mash, peas, broad beans and your favourite onion gravy.