Such A Silly Sausage

My most dearest of darlings and loveliest of lovelies, I do hope the autumn finds you in snorting good form.  Now, I have been neglecting my duties as a blogger, which is totally unacceptable.  Please feel free when you see me to take a paddle to my botty.  I, in turn, will offer a tiny moan.

moan

I love sausage and I don't care who knows.  I love them with creamy mash or in a sandwich.  I love cutting off the skin and frying them until the edges go golden and crispy then sprinkling the porky croutons over a fried egg on toast.  

At this time of year there's nothing like a fabulous English Dog (i.e. a hotdog with a proper banger) However, I am a teensy bit sick of having lovely sausages accompanied by greasy onions black around the edges and raw in the middle.  So, I thought I'd share my foolproof way to cook the perfect onions for sausages.

Put an inch wedge of butter and a couple of tablespoons of oil into a heavy bottomed saucepan that has a tight-fitting lid and put it over a medium heat.  I have one of those enamel, French named casseroles for this, which is perfect.  They are expensive but I’ve had mine for twelve years and it is still as good as new so they are a good investment.  Next add to the pan about four large onions that you have skinned and thinly sliced.  Coat them in the melted butter and oil, put the lid back on and leave it alone.  Check every ten minutes or so and give them a stir but don’t stir too much.  What will happen is that the onions will soften and start to go a deep, dark caramel brown.  As they colour they lose their harsh flavour and begin to develop an incredible sweetness that will bring out the salty, porkiness of the sausage.  The onions will take about 40 minutes to cook so leave plenty of time.

By the by, when the onions are cooked you can serve them with the sausages in an English Dog or you could do a couple of other things.  

1.  After 40 mins you could add some chopped garlic and cook that for a couple of minutes.  Then add a tablespoon of flour and stir until the flour has been incorporated with the butter.  Cook that for a couple of minutes and add a wineglass of whatever wine you have to hand (red or white) or beer or cider and cook again until it bubbles away nicely.  Then add a bit of stock and salt and pepper and you have the perfect gravy for sausage and mash.  

2. Do the above but keep adding stock for an easy onion soup.

And don't say I don't do anything for you.

A Supercool Supper To Make Tonight

The tomatoes were so good I couldn't take the photo without eating some

Fancy a really quick and easy supper that you could do tonight..?  I got my sweaty hands on some really good late season tomatoes the other day and decided to make one of my favourite things in the world.

Halve the tomatoes and place cut side up in a roasting dish.  Crush some garlic and scatter over the beautiful red fruit.  Then splash some olive oil over the lot and season with salt and pepper.  If you have any thyme leaves or oregano then toss some in too.  It will all taste good believe me.

Roast the tomatoes in a hot oven (about 200C) for about 25 mins.

This makes a wonderful side dish for steaks or grilled chicken or roast lamb.  You could have it with some firm fleshed white fish or with some ribbons of tagliatelle.  Or like me you can toast some bread, spoon the tomatoes and all the lovely juices on top and grate over some parmesan.  This is definitely my kind of food, I hope you try it out.

Clang! Namedrop Fish Supper of the Week

Tom Kerridge and Matthew Fort would only agree to the photo if I promised to keep my eyes closed

OK, so I was recently hanging out with Tom Kerridge, Great British Menu winner and all-round amazing guy, and he gave me some sea bass fillets.  This was fabulous because sea bass is (a) delicious (b) in season and (c) eye-wateringly expensive.  

In my, very humble, opinion the key to sea bass is 'keep it simple'.  You don't want to over complicate things and run the risk of cocking it up after you've parted with all that cash for a few fillets.  Actually, that would make an excellent second key to sea bass; "keep it simple" and "don't cock it up".

So here's what I did with mine.  

I had some waxy potatoes, some large flat mushrooms and some peas (all in season as well I hasten to add!) so I thought I'd roast the sea bass on the spuds, fry off the mushrooms and make a simple pea salsa.  Sort of like fish, chips and mushy peas if you had the Queen or Posh Spice coming round.

Cut the spuds into thick slices, throw them on a baking tray and glug on a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Put them in a hot oven for 15 mins.  After 15 mins place the sea bass on the potatoes skin side up, rub olive oil on the skin and season.  Return to the oven and cook for another 10-12 mins.

While this is going on fry the mushrooms in butter and cook the peas for a minute or two.  Blitz the cooked peas with some butter, a little cream if you have it, and some salt and pepper.  Season the mushrooms.  Put on a plate and enjoy.

I think Tom would approve.

Praise The Gorge

A jar of autumn: sloes steeping in gin under my stairs

I have always been one of life’s gorgers.  I gorge like there’s no tomorrow (which I believe is the point).  I am incapable of loving something and being able to moderate my consumption of it, especially since I have my own money to buy whatever shiny new thing has caught my MTV ravaged attention.  For example, last year I saw ten minutes of The Wire at a friend’s house and three months later I had watched all 65 episodes.  That’s one and a half episodes every night for ninety days and when your wife ‘just can see the appeal’ that is a lot of late night and early morning viewing.

I’m the same with food.  Three months ago I was giddy with the thought of BBQs. The medium rare burgers, the blackened sweetcorn, the marinated racks of ribs, the buttery roasted new potatoes, the crispy and pink shoulders of lamb, the burst and browned sausages, the braised lettuces, the spatchcocked and tikka’d chickens.  Are there three letters that look as good together as the double B to the Q? 

Well, having gorged for the summer I am now officially over the garden grilling.  It is so last month.  My tongs have been put away for another year, my amusing big breasted BBQ apron has been moth-balled and I am patting my tummy and drooling in anticipation of my absolute favourite eating time of year, autumn.

The move from summer to autumn eating has been greatly eased by a terrible burger experience at the Bucks County show (the word ‘gourmet’ has never been so devalued) and the treat of some of the current Mrs B’s early homemade plum jam.  I don’t know if it was the glory of the May and June sunshine or the dampness of the August but the plum trees in Weedon have been producing the most wondrous early fruit all of which has been jammed already and most of which has been eaten.

Next will be the blackberries and the apples, which will be conserved or crumbled.  The pumpkins will be souped with a touch of Buckinghamshire chilli from the farm between Whitchurch and Winslow.  I’m already fantasizing about the Waddesdon game that the Parrot boys will tempt me with.  I fall asleep dreaming of the rabbits that will be roasted and turned into batches of ragu for autumnal pasta lunches.  I close my eyes and can smell the aroma of roasted or casseroled pheasants, depending on whether my neighbour, Martin, will finally relent and give me the recipe for his highly prized pheasant stew.  And please don’t get me started on puddings.

I cannot help it, I am trapped in a delicious cycle of gluttony daydreaming.  Perhaps I need help, a support group of some kind.

Hi, my name is Matt and I’m a gorger

By the way, if you have any favourite autumn recipes then please message or email me.  There is absolutely nothing I like more than chatting about food.  

Praise the gorge and pass the gorgonzola.