There must be a million of these types of recipes. And this one’s pretty straightforward: pork sausages fried quickly until browned, then a splash of Marsala for fun. A tin of tomatoes, cannelini beans and a jar of bacony pasta sauce, and after some bubbling away, that’s it.
Ladies and gentlemen, winter has arrived.
(PS. the ham wasn’t ready yet – another two days here I think)
Those Matheson’s sausages in a vacuum bag – great aren’t they? Of dubious provenance but undoubted flavour. Great in a sandwich with mustard, yum.
Or here, where they are pressed into service into a potato salad to convert it into a main meal. There’s boiled new potatoes in there (really!), cooked green beans, fried onions and sausage, tumbled with a mix of creme fraiche and wholegrain mustard, slacked down with a little milk. Dead easy and so enjoyable.
Eisenberg’s, opposite the flatiron building. A famous sandwich joint from 1929, at which we grabbed the above breakfast. It wasn’t the food that made it, more the 60+ yr old guy behind the counter gabbing on about his sick mother, his rich aunt, and being invited to Amish reservations. Hilarious and memorable.
Sorry about the rubbish name for it, but that’s almost all it is! It’s a Jamie Oliver recipe that’s a marvel for taking on the leftovers and gluts from the garden. My tomato plants have been kind to me this year; now I have the remainders to use up and this is just the thing.
Any tomatoes to hand get chucked in a nice deep roasting tray in a hot oven with a splash of oil, a nice sprig of rosemary (thank you window box), and a healthy swig of cheap balsamic vinegar – about half a bottle. It stays in the oven, filling the house with the slightly accrid whiff of boiling vinegar. It’s worth it though, as the flavour mellows, sweetens and starts to break the tomatoes down. After about half an hour the skins will blister and burst, and you can remove them. It’s a bit fiddly, and I find using some tongs can help to yank them off.
Once the skins are off sausages can go in. Any that you like will do the job. After another 20 mins the sausages should’ve browned, so give ’em a turn. When they’re browned, we’re good to go. Try the broth – you might want to add some seasoning or even a pinch of sugar.
Dish it up, and serve with some bread to mop up all the juice. One day I mean to make this, but then sieve and reheat the sauce to serve with perhaps some lamb leg steaks.
