FLOWER POT KITCHEN: BANGERS AND MASH WITH CARAMELISED ONION GRAVY

14 Feb 2019

BANGERS AND MASH WITH CARAMELISED ONION GRAVY

There is something so comforting about a hearty plate of bangers and creamy buttery mashed potatoes with outstandingly gorgeous caramelised pan onion gravy. The term bangers comes from Britains World War II when meat was so scarce more water was added to the sausage mix, during cooking they often would pop going BANG and exploded while cooking!

This meal is very personal and I’m so proud that everything on this plate we grew, raised and produced from our family small holding and home garden. Glorious 95% Herby Gloucestershire Old Spot sausages, loved and organically out door naturally reared, preservative free and seasoned with fresh thyme, sage, chives and marjoram from the garden with a hint of salt and fresh ground white pepper. Served with rich buttery mashed potatoes and caramelised onion and sausage pan gravy.

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking-oven time 40 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4)

8 local big bangers

(outdoor reared)

1 kg potatoes

1 large onion sliced

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1 tbsp olive or coconut oil

150g butter + 1 tbsp

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

pinch of thyme

2 tsp corn flour

sea salt

fresh white pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees, lightly grease the bottom of a roasting tin and place the sausages in, place in the oven, these will take between 35-40 minutes to cook, turn half way through. Meanwhile bring a large pan of water to a gently boil, peel the potatoes and halve, place in the boiling water and cook until fork tender approx 25-30 minutes, drain and return to the pan with the butter and white wine vinegar, mash and season with salt and pepper, leave on a very low heat to keep warm while you serve.

At the same time as cooking the potatoes make the onion (poor man’s) gravy, on a medium heat fry the onions in a tbsp of butter, dash of olive oil and sugar until caramelised, for approximately the same amount of time it takes to boil the potatoes, once caramelised add 500ml of water and the thyme, bring up to a simmer, take the cornflour and mix with a tbsp of water, add to the simmering onions and stir until smooth, when you remove the sausages from the oven, add 50ml of water or white wine to the roasting tin, scrape around lifting off all the caramelised flavour from the cooked sausages and pour the cooking juices into the gravy, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve the mashed potatoes first, top with your gorgeous sausages and fabulous onion gravy, enjoy.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.