Sausage in a stew? I’m there. Whether it’s a pot au feu, a Sunday gravy, or a cumberland casserole, I love the instant seasoning hit you get from having a sausage do the leg work in a dinner.

This particular one is Jamie Oliver’s, from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. It’s dense and tasty, and packed with flavours. Beans, breadcrumbs and bacon? What’s not to love?

He served it with broccoli, in a tomato sauce. Which I couldn’t see the point of. Instead I made loads of cassoulet and stuck some in the freezer. Perfect.

Kinda sausage cassoulet (serves 4):

4 rashers smoky bacon, sliced

2 red onions, halved, peeled and sliced

A few sprigs rosemary

Small bunch of sage

3 bay leaves

2 leeks, finely sliced

6 – 8 decent sausages

4 thick slices of bread

2 cloves of garlic

1 x 680g passata

1 x 390g tin of butter beans

1 x 390g tin of haricot beans

1. Pre-heat your grill to high.
2. Put the bacon into a sturdy roasting tray with a splash of olive oil and put on a high heat with the herbs – hold a few sage leaves back for the breadcrumbs. Add the onions and leeks too. Add a splash of water to loosen, stir and leave to soften.
3. Put your sausages in another roasting tray and pop under the grill.
4. Pop the bread, garlic and sage in a food processor and pulse to breadcrumbs.
5. Stir the passata and the beans (with their juices) into the tray of vegetables. Add half the breadcrumbs to the top.
6. The sausages are probably browned on one side now, so get them out from under the grill and pop raw-side-up on top of the tomatoey veg, then top with the rest of the breadcrumbs. Pop back under the grill until the sausages are cooked through and the breadcrumbs browned.