Family Lockdown Cooking: Sausage Casserole

It’s easy to get lots of good stuff into a sausage casserole and it’s full of foods that your kids are familiar with. Besides the fibre in the potatoes this casserole also has fibre-packed beans. I love cannellini beans and will chuck them in whenever I can but baked beans are also full of fibre and kid-friendly so a perfect substitution. The passata has 3 B-vitamins that benefit our mental health and immune-boosting vitamin C.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 Adults and 2 Kids
12 free range pork sausages
1 medium onion
1 tbsp olive oil
400g potatoes (approx 2 large)
5 medium carrots
4 garlic cloves (or 2 tsps garlic powder)
500g passata
250ml water
1 tin of cannellini or baked beans
1/2 tsp salt

Optional: 3 sage leaves
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce or apple cider vinegar

• Pour the olive oil into a large casserole dish on a medium high heat and warm the pan. Once the pan is hot add the sausages and give the pan a shake to coat in oil then don’t move the meat for at least 2 minutes while the sausages brown. Turn the sausages and brown on each side for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Keep an eye on the heat so that the sausages don’t burn.
• Peel the onion then cut in half and slice each half into 0.5cm wide strips. Once the sausages are brown remove them from the pan onto a plate then add the onions to the pan. If you have it pour over the Worcestershire sauce or apple vinegar otherwise add 50ml water and stir to scrape up any yummy bits from the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle over the salt and let the onions cook for 4-5 minutes while they soften and gently brown.
• Peel the potatoes the cut into cubes as wide as the sausages. Peel and cut the carrots in half then cut each half lengthways into quarters. Crush, peel and chop the garlic cloves then add them to the browned onions and cook for 1 minute (or sprinkle over the garlic powder). Add the passata and water then stir to combine. If using the cannellini beans, drain then add to the casserole or add the whole tin if using baked beans. Add the potatoes, carrots and bay leaf to the pan and stir then return the sausages to the top of the casserole (and some sage leaves if you have them), put the lid on and pop the dish into a 195°c (175°c Fan) oven for 1 hour when the potatoes should be tender. Serve and sprinkle with chopped chives or dried parsley if you have them.