Surprisingly good beer-braised sausages and peas

SERVES 2

Okay, this is a very simple dish, and like all simple dishes it relies on really good produce. Here it is all about the sausages, so please buy some very good gourmet-type snags. I love pork and fennel sausages and also love hot Italian sausages (salsicce). Actually, I love any good sausage! Boerewors, the South African sausage you see in butcher shops packaged up in a coil, would also be great in this dish. The spicy flavours from the sausages, the sweetness from the onions and the lovely malty character of the beer all mix together beautifully. Add the sweetness from the peas and the carrot and their slightly crunchy texture and it all adds up to make this a surprisingly good dish!

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 pork and fennel sausages

2 hot Italian sausages (or mild, if you don’t like that chilli bite)

3 onions, sliced

three 330 ml (11¼ fl oz) bottles of pilsner

235 g (8½ oz/1½ cups) frozen peas

1 large carrot, diced

Preheat the oven to 160°C (315°F/Gas 2–3).

Heat most of the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole dish over medium–high heat. Add the sausages and brown on all sides. Remove from the dish and set aside.

Heat the rest of the olive oil in the dish. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes, then turn the heat down and cook gently for about 10 minutes, until the onion is caramelised.

Return the sausages to the dish, then pour in enough beer to cover the sausages – if you don’t use all of it I suggest you drink what is left over! Put a lid on the dish and place it in the oven. Bake for 2 hours.

Just before serving, cook the peas and carrots together, either in the microwave, in some simmering salted water, or by steaming them – don’t overcook as you want a little bit of crunch from them. Drain and divide evenly between two plates.

Place one of each sausage on top of the peas and carrots, then spoon the beer broth and onion over. Eat!

You could also serve a lovely creamy potato mash with this if you wanted.

Beer Notes

I used Blue Tongue Traditional Pilsner. You could also use Red Angus Pilsener, Cricketers Arms Lager or of course Peroni Nastro Azzurro. You could also try using a Mountain Goat Steam Ale