Wonderful mid-week winter supper – do it with Baked potatoes, or crusty bread. And be sure to check the wine… Ingredients (for about 6 people)
pack of 8/10 good quality sausages. Olive oil – to cook 2 or 3 Onions, chopped into 1 cm bits. 2-3 cloves of garlic crushed Chickpeas (I use a tin) Tin of tomatoes Tomato puree Red wine – about a glassful, but since you will have a bottle open whilst you cook, you may pretend that you have used more than this. Add other veggies – celery, peppers, cabbage, carrots (whatever you have.) Substitute the onions with celery if they disagree with you. Optional…Other things you can add: bacon or chorizo- cut into bits – cook with the sausages; herbs; other beans if you have them, but keep the proportions about right.
Method (I tend not to add salt, since sausages and bacon are already salty. ) First cook your meat. If you need a bit of oil, use olive oil. In a deep frying pan, brown the sausages, and add the bacon or chorizo. Cook the meat until it is sealed, about 10-15 minutes, moving it around. If you want to hoik the sausages out once they have cooked and cut them into bite-sized bits, let the pan cool, and remember to use a chopping board, and return all the juices back to the pot. You can leave them whole – just make sure the number is divisible by the number of people eating. Next add your onions, garlic and other veg and use the meat juices to get the heat up. Once the onions are soft, add the tomatoes & puree. Let this basic casserole heat up and add some of your wine. If needs be add a bit of water – you want the pan to be bubbling gently. Add all the other chopped vegetables and the tin of chickpeas – the water in the tin will thicken the sauce, so you decide how much to add, depending on how you like your dish. If you drain the chickpeas, it may be a bit dry – just add a bit of water so it is able to sit on a low heat, bubbling gently. Add seasoning and herbs and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, then turn it off the heat. Let it sit there for a bit to finish the cooking and develop flavours. IN fact if you set this up hours before you are going to eat it will be better. Minimum cooking time is altogether about 30 minutes. The best wine for this is the kind you win in a raffle. Bruce came home from a trade show with a bottle he said he had won in a draw. I opened it and left it to breathe, and was half way through adding a glass for the cassoulet, when I saw the label. I think it was a Tuesday. Very Groovy. Whaaaa?? I checked on line – the bottle (1989 75CL Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot) was worth about £450 then. Now (2018), you can find it for £780. What an idiot! I stall have the bottle – from the year the Berlin Wall came down. A little bit of history!
To serve Warm the pot up again, and offer guests grated cheese. For carbs, the choice is yours – a nice crusty loaf always goes down well, but baked potato, Bulgar wheat, or anything that will soak up the juices. I always add a little more red wine right at the end – it gives a fabulous aroma! And it is nice to serve a glass of red wine with the dish, if there is any left. I like to make more than I need, because this dish freezes well, and is great reheated on another day.