Atticus, my 6 year old, told me (as they do) to make sausages and gravy for dinner; 'the mash potato has to be scooped onto the plate with an ice-cream scooper'. There has to be two domes of mash, two sausages and all surrounded by gravy, because that is what he gets for lunch in school and he loves it.
I’ve upped my sausage and mash game and made a recipe for him with red wine, onions, a really good beef stock (which I developed when I was the Waitrose Ingredients buyer!), lovely sausages and Maris Piper potatoes made into a creamy mash with loads of whole milk and butter.
Miraculous ingredient: sausages (free range or organic), red wine, Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients beef stock, Maris piper potatoes
Sausages in a red wine onion gravy with mash potato
INGREDIENTS
Sausages 2 or 3 per person, the best you can afford!
5 brown onions, finely sliced
75g unsalted butter
50ml red wine
500ml beef stock (Waitrose Cooks' Ingredients beef stock is the best)
25g plain flour
Sea salt and ground black pepper to season
Mash
500g maris piper potatoes
25g unsalted butter
50ml whole milk
Sea salt to season
METHOD
In a large frying pan melt 50g of butter on a low heat, add all the finely sliced onions (I cut the onion in half and then finely slice) and let the onions slowly cook for 10 minutes. The onions should be soft and translucent.
Once the onions are cooked, add the wine, turn the heat up to high and continue cooking until the wine has evaporated, approximately 10 minutes. Next, add the beef stock and bring the gravy to a simmer.
Melt 25g of butter in a microwave (20 seconds is usually enough time) and thoroughly stir in the flour making sure there are no lumps. Add the melted butter flour mixture to the pan of onions and beef stock and stir. Reduce the heat to low and let the gravy simmer gently for 40 minutes. You will probably need to add some water if the gravy becomes too thick.
In the meantime grill the sausages until they are nicely browned and cooked all the way through. Add the grilled sausages to the gravy when there are about 10 minutes left of cooking time so the sausages can flavour the gravy. Season the gravy well with salt and pepper.
Peel and quarter the potatoes and boil in water until soft. When the potatoes are cooked, strain the water and leave the potatoes in the pan to allow the steam to escape – potatoes mash the best when they are dry. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. Put 25g of butter and 50ml of milk in a container and heat in the microwave for a minute until the butter is almost melted and the milk is warm. Add the butter milk mixture to the mash potatoes and mix well with the masher. Season the mash well salt.
Serve the mash, sausages and gravy with peas for a classic British dinner!
Preparation time 15 minutes, cooking 1hr minutes, 2 adult portions, 2 children portions