Sometimes there’s nothing better than a bit of food nostalgia and what better than a big plate of almost burned sausages with a pile of creamy mashed potatoes to take you back to your childhood? Bangers and Mash, Beano style! That’s all very fine and well but we are all adults here, so why not foody it up a little and cover the sausages in a sweet and spicy glaze and give the mash a bit of bite too?
There are many recipes for doing this to small cocktail sausages that you would serve on a platter to party guests so why not do the same for your dinner? That’s right, no reason at all.
As is often my way, I have taken elements plundered from various aforementioned cocktail sausage recipes and hacked them together to make something doable from the things I already had in my kitchen. Some of the recipes I looked at were far too bourgeois for a humble sausage and some just looked way too sticky and sweet for my taste so I adapted.
Speaking of making simple things silly, there was a chef on the radio today, going on about how to make your own baked beans. I really fail to see why anyone would want to go to the effort and expense of making their own baked beans when what you really want is plain old beans on toast, should you be in the humour for such a thing. But then I fail to see the point of radio chefs at all. With food I think you really need to be able to visualise what you are trying to make, with a photo or at least with a list of ingredients and a method. These people come on the radio and rattle off a long list of ingredients and speed through the instructions and you are supposed to be able to retain and process this information? Ridiculous! Schedule filler is all it is if you ask me.
I just fed myself with this but you can scale it up or down to suit your own requirements
Hot Sausage and Mash
Ingredients
- 6 sausages (I only ate 4, I promise!)
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- I tbsp marmalade (or other sweet runny thing like honey)
- I red chilli finely chopped
- I clove of garlic minced
- A sprinkling of oregano
- A dash or two of light soy sauce (I just couldn’t keep the bourgeois out)
- A dash of tabasco (just for a little extra kick)
- 4 smallish potatoes
- Dijon Mustard
- A glug of milk
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
-
You could do this in a frying pan but using the oven makes it all the more easy.
-
Heat your oven to 200°C and line a tray with foil to make the clean up easier, spread a little oil over the foil to help prevent the sausages sticking. Get your bangers in the oven then peel the potatoes and get them on to boil.
-
Chop up the chilli and mince the garlic and mix these in with the tomato sauce, marmalade, soy sauce, oregano, salt, pepper and tabasco (if you dare).
-
After ten minutes in the oven the sausages should be starting to brown so dollop the spicy marinade all over them and give them another 10 or 15 minutes. Turn the heat up or down if things aren’t progressing as you would like. If you are using a frying pan just brown the sausages as you normally would then add the sauce to the pan giving it a stir now and then to stop it burning while it reduces and thickens and coats the sausages. Oven is easier!
-
When the potatoes are ready, mash them up with butter, milk, salt and pepper and mix in a half tablespoon of dijon mustard, or whatever mustard you have really.
-
One thing will happily wait for the other here so timing is not that crucial. Nor are any or all of the listed ingredients, except the sausages and potatoes perhaps. Improvise, make your own sauce with whatever you have in the cupboard. Serve with some veg if you are feeling deficient in Vitamin C. The main thing is to enjoy and remember Dennis the Menace.