big breakfast bonanza

Preparation time 20 minutes

Cooking temperature low

Cooking time 9–10 hours or overnight

Serves 4

1 tablespoon sunflower oil

12 herby chipolata sausages, about 400 g (13 oz) in total

1 onion, thinly sliced

500 g (1 lb) potatoes, peeled and cut into 2.5 cm (1 inch) chunks

375 g (12 oz) tomatoes, roughly chopped

125 g (4 oz) black pudding, peeled and cut into chunks

250 ml (8 fl oz) vegetable stock

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon English mustard

2–3 stems of thyme, plus extra to garnish

salt and pepper

To serve

slices of white bread (optional)

4 poached eggs (optional)

Preheat the slow cooker if necessary; see the manufacturer’s instructions. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the sausages and brown on one side, turn and add the onion. Fry, turning the sausages and stirring the onions until the sausages are browned but not cooked.

Add the potatoes, tomatoes and black pudding to the slow cooker pot. Lift the sausages and onion from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to the slow cooker pot. Pour off the excess fat, then add the stock, Worcestershire sauce and mustard. Tear the leaves from the thyme stems and add to pan with some salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil and pour over the sausages. Press the potatoes down so that the liquid covers them. Cover with the lid and cook on low for 9–10 hours or overnight. Stir before serving and garnish with extra thyme leaves. Serve with slices of white bread or a poached egg.

For a vegetarian big breakfast, fry 400 g (13 oz) meat-free sausages in the oil with the onion as above. Add the potatoes and tomatoes to the slow cooker pot with 125 g (4 oz) halved button mushrooms instead of the black pudding. Heat the stock with the mustard and thyme and add 1 tablespoon tomato purée instead of the Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt and pepper, then pour the mixture over the sausages in the slow cooker. Cover and cook as above.