food friday :: bangers & mash

it's the ultimate british dinner. bangers & mash. (translation: sausages and mashed potatoes, smothered in gravy). and it's exactly the kind of food you desire as you walk home from the train station on a cold and rainy thursday night. it's also exceptionally budget friendly. a few months back we bought 24 sausages for £8, which means that this meal might have cost £3 total. but being budget friendly does mean that taste was sacrificed. bangers and mash is a british institution - friends of ours served it gourmet style at their wedding last year - and it was DELICIOUS!

the key to this simple, but incredibly satisfying, supper is ingredients and taking your time. and this is sure to be met with lip-smacking approval from any man who happens to reside at your house. which always makes it a winner in my book!

gourmet bangers & mash with red onion gravy
serves 2

this recipe is easy to scale up to feed larger groups, if pan space is an issue, consider browning sausages in the oven and then using the drippings in the gravy.

ingredients:
4 gourmet sausages
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup red wine
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
1 cup chicken stock
1 sprig rosemary, leaves picked and roughly chopped

4-5 medium potatoes roughly chopped, skins on
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp heavy cream

salt & pepper

instructions: 
heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. once shimmering, add sausages, being careful of spatter. cook over medium/low heat, being sure to get brown and crispy on all sides.

meanwhile, bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil and add potatoes. cover and boil until knife-tender.

once sausages are browned, remove to a plate and add wine to pan, deglazing with a wooden spoon - be sure to get all the crispy bits on the bottom of the pan into the sauce, that's where the flavour is! once deglazed and slightly reduced add onions and allow to sweat over medium-low heat for 10 min. add chicken stock and rosemary, and allow to reduce by half. season with salt & pepper. once reduced return sausages to pan to warm.

drain potatoes and roughly mash with butter and cream. season with salt & pepper.

serve sausages on a bed of the mashed potatoes with onion gravy ladled over top.

be prepared for minimal dinner conversation as everyone is too engaged in eating!