Sausages and Mash in a Giant Yorkshire Pudding

Bangers and mash is a traditional British classic dish, as is Yorkshire pudding. This is almost a combination of the two, though these small, skinless pork sausages can not really be classed as bangers. What I have also done is make this an incredibly simple Yorkshire pudding, which does not require that the batter be left for any length of time to rest.

Ingredients

5 skinless pork sausages
1/2 small onion
2 medium potatoes

1 egg
1 rounded tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
1 tbsp milk
2 tbsp sunflower oil

Basil for garnish if desired

Method

There is no disputing the fact that Yorkshire pudding batter should be rested whenever possible. I have found, however, that this simple recipe can be used very effectively a mere fifteen to twenty minutes after it is prepared.

The egg and flour should be beaten together in a bowl before the milk is added and the mixture beaten to a smooth and fairly thin batter. The bowl should then be placed in the refrigerator. The sunflower oil should be added to a deep casserole dish around 8" in diameter and the dish added to the oven. The oven should be put on to preheat to 425F/220C/Gas mark 7.

When the oven and casserole dish are heated - after around fifteen to twenty minutes - the dish should carefully be removed from the oven, the batter poured in and the dish returned to the oven for thirty to forty minutes, until the Yorkshire pudding is well risen and golden.

As soon as the Yorkshire pudding batter is in the oven, the potatoes should be peeled, roughly chopped and added to a pot of cold, slightly salted water. The pot should be put on to a high heat until the water boils, which should then be reduced to achieve a simmer for around twenty-five minutes.

The sausages will take around fifteen minutes to fry, in a little sunflower oil, in a non-stick frying pan. They should therefore be put on to cook some ten minutes after the potatoes begin to simmer. The onions should be fried with the sausages, for a time period according to taste: some people prefer them well caramelised, others prefer them all but raw.

The potatoes should be drained and mashed with a little butter. The Yorkshire pudding should be removed from the oven and sat on the serving plate with a slotted spoon, before being stuffed with the mash. The sausages and onions should be stuffed randomly in to the mash and freshly torn basil leaves used as additional garnish if required.

My beloved HP Sauce? Yes - that can also be added if desired!

Bonfire Night Bangers and Mash with Houses of Parliament Sauce

Halloween may be well and truly over for another year but that means that, here in the UK, Guy Fawkes' Night - also known as Bonfire Night - is only a matter of days away. The 5th of November every year is when people all over Great Britain commemorate the events of the Gunpowder Plot, back in 1605, when Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament, killing HM King James I/VI and as many of his ministers and officials as possible.

Like Halloween, Bonfire Night is not generally associated with special meals; but once again, I could not resist the temptation. What better, therefore, than an interpretation of the British classic, Bangers and Mash, accompanied with the appropriately named, Houses of Parliament Sauce? (Yes - that is the full title of HP Sauce!)

If you are in Great Britain and are planning having a bonfire and letting off some fireworks this Friday night, why not consider this simple dish to set the family up against what is usually the cold and wet? Even if you are not in Great Britain and do not have the slightest interest in Guy Fawkes' Night, this is still a delicious meal to try out and incredibly simple in the preparation and cooking. The quantities in this recipe provide for one adult portion.

Ingredients

4 beef link sausages (bangers)
2 medium potatoes
1 medium white onion
5 or 6 button mushrooms
2 rashers of bacon (optional)
Pinch of dried sage
1 clove of garlic
Pinch of freshly chopped dill
Sunflower oil for frying
HP Sauce

Method

The potatoes should be put on to cook in the first instance. They should be peeled, chopped roughly and added to a pot of cold, lightly salted water. They should be put on to a high heat until the water begins to boil, then the heat should be reduced to achieve a simmer, for twenty-five to thirty minutes.

As soon as the potatoes are boiling, a little sunflower oil should be added to a non-stick frying pan. The sausages should be gently fried for two or three minutes just to brown them evenly before the finely sliced onions and halved mushrooms are added. This may seem early to add the mushrooms and onions but I want them to cook down and caramelise in to a luscious sauce. Sprinkle on the sage and gently stir through. Make sure that the bangers are in contact with the base of the frying pan at all times, to ensure that they are properly cooked through.

When the sausages are cooked (after about twenty minutes) they should be placed to the side of the pan, on top of the mushrooms and onions, to keep warm, while - if desired - the optional bacon is added. The bacon will only take a couple of minutes on each side to cook.

The potatoes should be drained and mashed. The chopped dill and the grated garlic clove should then be stirred in to the mash before it is heaped in to the centre of the serving plate. There is no need to evenly distribute the mash - bangers and mash is not meant to be symmetrical! - but room should be left on the plate to spoon the onion and mushroom around the edges. The bangers may then be stuck in to the mash like wood on a bonfire and the bacon draped around them, if it is to be included.

The HP Sauce is of course optional but it not only adds an extra flavour to the dish, it is more than appropriate to the occasion...

Important!!!

If you are hosting or attending any form of event this Guy Fawkes' Night, particularly where it is not an organised display, please remember to follow all safety precautions to the letter. Do everything within your power to ensure that neither you, nor any of your friends or family, are part of the horrific statistics we seem to read about in the newspaper, or see on TV, every 6th of November. Be safe - and have fun!

The Fireworks' Code

Not Quite Bangers and Mash...

Bangers and mash is a very popular dish in the UK. It is basically sausages served in or on top of mashed potatoes. This dish is sausages served on crushed - as opposed to mashed - potatoes but probably looks a great deal different to most people familiar with bangers and mash.

The principal reason why this dish is so different from bangers and mash is that the sausages used in it are Lorne sausages, a type of sausage peculiar to Scotland and certain parts of the North of England. These are sausages where, rather than being stuffed in to skins, the sausage meat is compressed in to large blocks which are subsequently sliced to form the sausages. Although Lorne sausages were not around in the time of Rabbie Burns, they are a hugely popular item in Scottish cuisine today.

The following recipe is in the quantities required per person.

Ingredients

2 Lorne sausages
6 to 8 small new potatoes
Handful of frozen peas
1 clove of garlic
A knob of butter
Half a tomato for garnish (if desired)

Method

The new potatoes should be left whole and unpeeled, placed in to a pot of boiling, salted water and simmered for twenty-five to thirty minutes until soft. The Lorne sausages should be grilled and will take around three minutes each side under a medium to hot grill in order to cook. This should be timed so far as possible to coincide with the potatoes being ready.

The peas will only take about three minutes in boiling water to cook and should therefore be put on immediately prior to draining and starting to finalise the preparation of the crushed potatoes. When drained, the potatoes should be placed in a bowl and crushed with a fork. The butter and crushed or grated garlic clove should then be added and the mixture stirred. The potatoes should then be arranged on a plate, the Lorne sausages sliced in half diagonally and arranged on top as shown in the photograph and the peas drained and arranged round the edges of the plate. The tomato may then be placed on top as a final garnish.