Bratwurst with braised cabbage

Ingredients 1 white cabbage, 1 onion, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar, 1 tsp mustard, 4 bratwurst sausages.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

As part of the World Cup Food Challenge 2014, this recipe represents a traditional meal of Germany. It feels like such a cliche and so unimaginative to instantly associate Germany with sausage, but if you look past the meat (typical vegetarian, eh?) and simply delight in the utter fragrant glory of the bed of cabbage, I can promise you that this dish is a national treasure for a very very good reason.

1) Peel and chop the onion into 1/2cm slices. Pop out the rings and add to a pan along with the butter and cloves. Sautee gently until the onion is completely soft and translucent and take the pan off the heat. Pick out the cloves and discard.

2) Cut the cabbage into 1/2cm slices, then slice into thin strips. Parboil for 5 minutes, drain and add to the pan of onion.

3) Return to the heat, add the vinegar and mustard and stir through until the cabbage becomes soft, adding a little extra butter for glossiness if desired.

4) Grill or fry the sausages for 6-8 minutes, then serve atop the cabbage.

Pork & roast pepper risotto

Ingredients 400g sausage meat, bell peppers, ham stock, cayenne pepper, butter, 1 cup risotto rice, paprika, lime, oregano, 1 glass white wine, 1 white onion.

Serves: 2 Preparation: X

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. For this dish, I took my inspiration from Cajun flavours to create the perfect comfort food.

1) To make the meatballs, put a tsp paprika, a tsp oregano, a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt and cayenne pepper in a blender along with the pork mince, and pulse until combined. Form small meatballs by rolling in your hands and seal them in a hot pan with a little butter. Set aside.

2) Remove the core and seeds from your bell peppers and slice between the membranes. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees and set aside.

3) Dice the white onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Add the risotto rice and stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre and pour in the white wine.

4) Once the wine cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and stir through.

5) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time, adding the meatballs and roast pepper with the second to last ladle of stock.

6) Serve, seasoned with paprika.

Pork & apple burgers

Ingredients 400g Sausage meat, 1 apple, sage, 1/2 white onion, butter

Serves: 6 preparation: 20 minutes

Making burgers is so quick and simple that I refuse to entertain the idea that there is any excuse for the kind of specimens that come under the category of "convenience food" and "fast food". They're unhealthy, low quality and truly no faster. Pork, apple and sage are such classic flavour combinations - give this a try as a fun BBQ alternative to beef.

1) Peel and finely dice half a white onion, peel, core and dice the apple and and fry both together in a little butter with some chopped sage for 2 minutes.

2) Combine the onions, apple and sausage meat - you could use a blender but I prefer to leave the apple chunks intact and use my hands. Season with  a pinch of salt and pepper first.


3) Form patties with your hands, packing the meat quite tightly and either BBQ, grill or bake in the oven.  For best results, sizzle the outside of the burger first using the juices from the onion, apple & sage pan.


I served with fresh lettuce from the garden and ketchup in a burger bun

Sausage & mustard mayonnaise salad

Ingredients 3 Quorn sausages, 1 lemon, 1 tsp grainy mustard, 4 eggs, lemon juice, salt, pepper, 1 pint vegetable oil.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 10 minutes


Quorn is a funny old thing. When I was just starting out as a vegetarian the key thing for me was to fit in, to prove that I wasn't a total weirdo and I could still eat all the same things as my family did. So at Sunday lunch I'd have a Quorn chicken/turkey breast. When they had a lasagne or shepherd's pie, I'd have the same but with Quorn mince. And on Saturday mornings I could have quorn sausage sandwiches, at parties Quorn sausage rolls and when making curry or stir fry I could use Quorn chicken pieces. As you'll know from reading this blog, I rarely use Quorn as a source of protein now - preferring to get creative with beans and nuts and pulses but occasionally I do and this quick snack makes a great side dish or picnic snack. You can make it with "real" sausages too!
1) To make your own mayonnaise - separate 4 egg yolks from the whites (discard the whites) and put in a large clean bowl to whisk (or use the whisk attachment on your blender if you have one). Add the lemon juice/vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk thoroughly, adding the oil ONE DROP at a time until the mayonnaise is thick and glossy. You don't have to use all the oil - I like it quite thick but if it's too thick you can always add a little warm water to thin it back down again.


2) Grill the sausages, brushed with a little oil to help crisp the "skin", allow them to cool a little and then slice them into chunks.


3) Add a good squeeze of lemon and teaspoon of mustard into the mayonnaise and stir the sausages through it.

Pork stuffed marrow

Ingredients    1 Marrow, 300g sausage meat, 1 leek, 20g parmigiano, 1 tablespoon butter

Serves: 2 Preparation: 40 minutes


If you let a courgette keep growing you end up with a marrow - a juicy, fresh and delicious marrow that is perfect for stuffing with something rich and flavoursome.



1) Wash the marrow thoroughly and cut off the ends. Slice the marrow in half lengthways and then depending on the length of the marrow cut in half sideways. The average marrow will give you four pieces suitable for stuffing.


2) Using a spoon or a flexible filleting knife, remove the core where you may see seeds developing like a melon. For future reference, these seeds are edible, but the flesh you remove from the marrow centre can be discarded for this recipe.


3) Put the marrow pieces on a baking tray and roast them at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.


4) Finely chop the leek and sautee in a little butter for 2-3 minutes.


5) Combine the sausage meat with the leek and half of the finely grated parmeggian and stuff the marrow pieces. Sprinkle with the remaining parmeggian and bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees.

Pork & apple cannelloni

Ingredients  Sausage meat, parsley, braeburn   apple, butter, bell peppers, red wine, passata tomatoes, white onion, cheddar, basil, basil oil

1) Peel, core and finely dice a Braeburn apple and sautee in butter for 2 minutes. Mix the apple with freshly chopped parsley and the sausage meat and stuff it inside cannelloni tubes. Set aside.


2) Remove the top and seeds from 2 bell peppers and slice into chunks. Roast in the oven, drizzled with basil oil for 20 minutes, or until the edges just begin to blacken.


3) Finely dice a white onion and sautee in butter until soft. Add a glass of red wine and reduce, stirring regularly until half the liquid remains. Gradually add the passata tomatoes, chopped basil and parsley and season with a pinch of salt.


4) In as casserole dish, first place the cannelloni tubes, side by side and then spoon a layer of roast peppers, followed by a few ladles of the tomato and red wine sauce. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then add a layer of grated cheese. Bake in the oven for a further 10 minutes and serve.

Butternut squash arancini

Ingredients Leftover Butternut squash risotto, sausage meat, old bread, egg.

Risotto is rubbish when reheated - it tends to congeal and lose the lovely soupy-ness so I like to put that to good use and once it's cool, roll it into risotto balls or arancini di riso if you speak Italian.


1) Pulse old bread in your blender to form breadcrumbs. In this case I used some mediterrean rustiques - garlic, tomato and herb bread.


2) Roll out the sausage meat and form it around the risotto ball. Dip in whisked egg and roll about in the breadcrumbs.


3) Deep fry until golden and crispy - or sizzle for 1 minute and bake in the oven for 4 minutes if like me you're not a fan of fried food.

Creamed Kale with pork balls

Ingredients Kale, sausage meat, double cream, butter, 1 whisked egg, parmigiano, linguine

This makes a great side dish but it's also fantastic if you stir through some linguine or spaghetti and have it as a main course. 

1) Melt a tablespoon of butter in a pan and stir through the kale.

2) Form the sausage meat into small meatballs and add into the pan

3) Stir through, adding cream as the kale begins to soften and continue to cook for about 15 minutes. I like to also add a little whisked egg to thicken the sauce and sprinkle with parmeggian.

Fritata-esque sausages on toast

Ingredients   2 eggs, bread, 2 sausages, butter.

This is a recipe which I first made with sausage meat, chorizo, sauteed onions and chillis, served on a big doorstep of ciabatta. I will update the picture as such ASAP but here is a quick "breakfast" version that I knocked up for my husband, who has a disgusting appetite for regular sliced bread, bless his soul. Or lack of soul... *mutters incoherently about crap bread*
The focus of this dish is undoubtedly the sausage, and what better way to experiment? The Northumberland Sausage Collection have some truly mindboggling varieties such as llama & lavender, moroccon camel, pork & locust, pork & BBQ worm, Northumbrian goat, merlot & cracked black pepper as well as the more traditional pork & apple and pork & leek varieties.


1) Remove the skin from the sausages and roll the sausage filling into small meatballs. Drop into a frying pan with a small knob of butter and shallow fry for 3 minutes before dropping 2 eggs over the top.


2) Using a spatula, keep the edges of the eggs from spreading - essentially you are setting the sausages in the egg but the meat fat and butter will create a sort of scrambled egg effect around the edges despite the more solid fried egg appearance in the centre. The best of both worlds!


3) Once the eggs have cooked, use a fish slice to carefully remove from the pan and rest on your lightly toasted bread.

Submitted for Sausage Summer.

Courgette tagine

Ingredients Courgette, spinach, ricotta, nutmeg, sausage meat, chilli peppers, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmigiano, salt, pepper,

1) With a vegetable peeler, shave razor thin strips of courgette and line an oven-proof dish with them.

2) Combine freshly chopped chillis with the sausage meat and spoon on top of the courgette. Press down firmly.

3) Blend a few handfuls of spinach leaves, freshly grated nutmeg, salt pepper and some ricotta.

4) Whisk 2 eggs with some ricotta and spoon on top of the spinach mix. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and parmeggian and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

5) Flip the tagine over onto a plate and serve in slices.