African Sausage Stew

For a long time I was trying to think up something a bit more original to do with sausages, giving that there isn’t a huge variety of recipes around for this cheap ingredient. So I came up with a stew that uses sweet potatoes (often part of West African cuisine). Besides sausages forming part of North African cooking, the spices and raisins are also a flavour of this region. Hence, I give you “African Sausage Stew”.

Serves 2

1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil

4 sausages

½ onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

300ml chicken/pork/vegetable stock

1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced

1 green pepper, deseeded and sliced

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes

1 tbsp. tomato puree

A handful of raisins

2 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. mixed spice

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. When very hot, fry the sausages until browned. Remove to a plate.

2. Add the onions to the saucepan and gently fry for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and fry for another minute.

3. Add the turmeric, mixed spice, balsamic vinegar and tomato puree. Quickly stir together. Then add the chilli, peppers, raisins, sweet potato and sausages. Cover with enough stock.

4. Bring to the boil and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked. If the stew is too runny for your preferences, you can add a thickening agent such as corn flour. Then serve with some side vegetables if you like!

Ginger and Apple Pork Pasties

Not only is it the season for apples, but also sausagemeat is ideal for those on a low budget. Pasties are great to eat both for dinner or lunch. However, it can be time consuming rolling out individual circles of pastry to make pasties, so if you haven’t got much time you can roll out the pastry into one big rectangle, place the filling on one half and fold the other half over to make one big roll. Just remember to brush over the top and around the seal with egg. You can also purchase pre-rolled pastry that’s now available in supermarkets, to speed things up even more. I suggest serving this meal with some pickle or chutney.

Makes 8

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1 cooking apple

1 medium red onion, diced

Root ginger, 1-2 tbsp. crushed

1 ½ tsp. ground ginger

2 garlic cloves, crushed

500g pork sausagemeat/sausages, skins removed

1 tsp. dried mixed herbs

Salt and pepper

1kg shortcrust pastry

Flour, for rolling pastry

1 egg, beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas Mark 7/425°F.

2. Heat a small drop of olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the red onions for about 2 minutes, until softened.

3. Peel the cooking apple and dice into medium chunks. Mix in a bowl with the sausage meat, mixed herbs, onions, ground ginger, crushed garlic and ginger in a bowl until combined evenly. Season with salt and pepper.

4. On a floured surface, roll the pastry out. Using a small plate or saucer, cut the pastry into circles. Spoon a small amount of the mixture onto one half of each of the pastry circles, but not covering the edge by at least 1 cm. Brush the edge of the other half with the beaten egg, then fold it over to form a semi-circle. Pinch the edges together to seal. Repeat until all the pastry and filling is used up.

5. On top of each pasty, indent 2 lines and brush over with the egg. Cook on a baking tray in the oven for 15 minutes,

6. Lower the heat to 190°C/Gas Mark 5/375°F, bake for a further 25 minutes and serve.