Easy Sausage Casserole Recipe

During the winter months it's good to have some hearty recipes up your sleeve and this one is a cracker. It's easy and quick to prepare, just pop in the oven for a couple of hours and enjoy with a hunk of crusty bread or on a baked potato with grated cheese.

I've been perfecting it over a few years now and it's one of Hubby's favourites. It came about when we had nothing much to eat and I couldn’t be bothered to go to the shops so I just pulled tins from the cupboards and the sausages from the freezer and threw it all in a casserole dish, remembering a similar dish of my Mum's from childhood. The easy sausage casserole, Bouchard style, was born and has been played with over time but I think I’ve got it just right now. The secret to this recipe is good quality sausages and I like to use Lincolnshire sausages which have a lovely herby flavour, I also prefer to use premium canned goods and find Heinz baked beans to be the best on the market. In the end the sausage casserole will be as good as the ingredients you use to make it.

Serves: 4

Time: 20 minutes preparation, 2 hours cooking time

Ingredients:

6 links of good quality Lincolnshire sausages

1 large red onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tin Heinz baked beans

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin red kidney beans

1 tbsp dried Oregano

1 tbsp Tomato puree

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

Salt & pepper to taste

1. Pre heat to oven to 190°C

2. Slice the sausages into 2cm sections and roughly chop the onion and garlic and put into the casserole dish.

TIP: If I'm short for time I partially defrost my sausages, the added bonus is that when you slice the sausage the skin stays in place and in the casserole when cooking the sausage pieces hold their shape. As the casserole will be in the oven for two hours the sausage will be thoroughly cooked.

3. Add the remaining ingredients to the casserole, except the red kidney beans, and put in the oven. Stir the casserole every half an hour or so.

4. 30 minutes before the end of cooking time add the red kidney beans and leave the top off the casserole dish so that the sauce can thicken.

5. Stir and serve in bowls with a hunk of fresh crusty bread or on a baked potato with grated medium cheddar cheese or with creamy mashed potato.

Enjoy!

Photographs by Andy Bouchard