Sausage Casserole

There's nothing better than casserole to warm you up on a winter's evening. All that beautiful meat and veg falling apart in a rich sauce is very comforting somehow. It doensn't hurt that casserole is so easy to make. The trouble is that it take time, either in a slow cooker on in an oven to get those cheaper cuts of meat falling apart so perfectly.

If you're looking for a quicker casserole with ingredients that you will usually already have to hand, then a sausage casserole is worth a try. It doesn't require such long cooking; you can usually have it ready in under an hour.

It doesn't matter which sausages you use, just grab your favourites. I sometimes use chipolatas, if that's what I have to hand. For the veg, I usually use carrots, but you can also add mushrooms, or switch the carrots out for butternut squash or sweet potato, whatever takes your fancy! Sausage Casserole freezes well, so it's a good recipe for making in a big batch.

Ingredients
(serves 4)

8 sausages (or 12 chipolatas)
4-5 large potatoes
1 onion
4 medium carrots
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp tomato puree
400ml beef stock
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Put the sausages under the grill until cooked and golden brown.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.
3. Chop the onion and crush the garlic and add them to the oil, stirring until softened.
4. Peel the potatoes and the carrots and chop both into large chunks.
5. Add the tomato puree and the thyme to the pan and stir through.
6. Add the carrots and potatoes and pour over the stock. 
7. Leave to simmer for 25 minutes or until the potatoes have softened.
8. Chop the sausages into chunks and add to the pan. Cook for a further 5-10 mins.

Serve!