30 Jan sausage stew

January can be cold, rough and long. We like to get through it by making it as delicious as possible. While we cut down on the sauce, cream and butter (well, okay – not the butter) we still love throwing a skillet pan full of sausages into the oven to see it coming out as a deeply comforting stew.

The success of this endearingly simple sausage stew is all down to the quality of your bangers. We picked up ours at one of our favourite Dublin butchers Ennis Butchers in Rialto, Dublin 8 which really helped add an extra layer of love to the finished dish. The preserved lemons are the second secret to success and you can find them in any Middle Eastern food or specialist food shop. They’re zingy and sweet and work so well with the sausages. And the third secret? Get the best, crusty bread you can lay your hands on – we love Dublin based Arún Bakery’s loaves of fluffy, crusty beautifully crafted bread.

what you need for a forkful of sausage stew for 2 to 3 people

Ingredients

6 amazing sausages

1 small onion

1 red chilli, de-seeded

2 cloves of garlic

About 600g of tinned tomatoes (about one and a half 400g tins)

1 tablespoon of muscovado sugar

3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 to 3 preserved lemons

Crusty bread to serve (we used Arun Bakery’s floury rosemary sourdough – amazing)

Parsley to serve

Method

Heat a drizzle of olive oil and a dollop of butter in a skillet pan on the hob. Cook the sausages for about 5 minutes until nicely browned.

Meanwhile finely slice the onions, chilli and garlic.

Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside.

Fry the onions, chilli and garlic for about 3 minutes in the pan in the leftover sausage juices – YUM.

Pour in the tinned tomatoes to the pan, add the sugar and mix well. Put the sausages back into the pan.

Slice the preserved lemons and arrange them around the sausages. Pick the leaves roughly from the sprigs of rosemary and scatter them around the pan.

Transfer to the oven and roast for 15 – 20 minutes at 200c/180c fan/gas mark 6. You want the sausages to be cooked through and for the tomato sauce to have a nice glossy sheen. And do bubbling beautifully.

Serve with crusty bread and freshly chopped parsley.

If you don’t have a skillet pan (we’re not all kinfolk, after all), you can start this stew in a pan and then transfer the stew to an oven-proof baking dish for the last 15 – 20 minutes of roasting. Or simply cook it all in the frying pan – we just like how the flavours come together after a roasting in the oven. Either way – you’ve got some serious comfort on your plate. 

Our sausage stew soundtrack comes from New Jersey’s Clams Casino – find the track Pull Me Down for free download here.