Hairy Bikers Sausage Casserole Recipe

Twelve sausages go into Hairy Bikers sausage casserole, and none of them get pricked. The recipe is in Mums Still Know Best, where it is called their great sausage casserole, and it feeds six at about 450 calories in a little over an hour.

They describe it as a rich-tasting casserole with a hint of spice, and a way to turn your favourite sausages into a main event. The wine is optional, and they say it is very good without it.

Ten minutes of gentle frying before anything else happens, turning the sausages until they are browned all over. Bacon and onions follow in the same pan, so each one leaves fat and flavour behind for the next.

Hairy Bikers Sausage Casserole

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Simmering Cuisine:British Courses:Main

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 15 minutesCook time: 55 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time:1 hour 10 minutesServings:6 servingsCalories:450 kcal Best Season:Winter

Description

Sausages, bacon and onions each get their turn in the same frying pan before anything is combined. The sauce is built on tinned tomatoes, chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce and dark muscovado sugar. Everything then simmers gently under a loose lid for half an hour.

Ingredients

• 1 to 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 12 good meaty pork sausages
• 6 rindless streaky bacon rashers, cut into 2.5cm lengths
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ to 1 tsp hot chilli powder or smoked paprika
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 300ml chicken stock, made with 1 stock cube
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 to 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 100ml red or white wine, optional
• 400g can of butter beans or mixed beans
• sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Brown the sausages: Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the sausages gently for 10 minutes, turning now and then until browned all over. Move them to a large saucepan or flameproof casserole dish.
2. Crisp the bacon: Fry the bacon in the same pan until it starts to brown and crisp, then add it to the sausages.
3. Soften the onions: Put the onions in the frying pan and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until they start to soften, stirring often. Add a little more oil only if the pan is dry.
4. Add garlic and spice: Add the garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more until the onions are pale golden, stirring frequently. Sprinkle over the chilli powder or smoked paprika and cook for a few seconds longer.
5. Build the sauce: Stir in the tomatoes, stock, tomato purée, Worcestershire sauce, sugar and herbs. Pour in the wine, or a splash of water if you are not using it, and bring to a simmer.
6. Combine and simmer: Tip the sauce carefully into the pan with the sausages and bacon. Bring back to a simmer, turn the heat down, cover loosely with a lid and cook very gently for 20 minutes, stirring now and then.
7. Finish: Drain and rinse the beans, stir them in and cook for another 10 minutes until the sauce is thick. Taste and season. Serve with rice or slices of rustic bread.

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FAQs

Why should I not prick the sausages?

Because the fat inside is doing the cooking. They make a point of it at the end of the recipe: the meat cooks better with the fat and the sausages stay juicy.

Pricking lets that fat run straight out into the pan, which leaves the sausage drier and the sauce greasier. Good meaty sausages have skins that will hold at a gentle heat.

Chilli powder or smoked paprika?

Either, and it changes the dish completely. Hot chilli powder gives you the hint of spice they mention, while smoked paprika gives warmth and smoke with almost no heat.

The quantity is half to one teaspoon, so start at half. Smoked paprika is the safer choice if you are cooking for children, and you can always add chilli at the table.

Can I make this in a slow cooker?

Yes, but do not skip the frying. The sausages, bacon and onions still need their ten minutes in a pan first, because a slow cooker will not brown anything and you lose the flavour the whole dish is built on.

After that, everything goes in and cooks on low. Add the beans in the last half hour rather than at the start, or they break down to mush over several hours.

Why brown everything separately?

Because a crowded pan steams instead of browning. Sausages, then bacon, then onions, each getting the pan to themselves and each leaving something behind for the next.

Their pork and bean casserole uses the same staged approach with three kinds of pork, though that one takes two and a half hours rather than one.

How do I make it thicker?

Give it the full ten minutes after the beans go in, with the lid off. The sauce reduces in that time and the recipe expects it to be thick before you serve.

If it is still loose, keep simmering uncovered rather than reaching for flour. The tomato purée and the muscovado sugar are already doing that job, and adding flour would dull the flavour you have just built.