Sausage and Mash with Minted Peas

There are some meals that are etched in the annuls of British Family Meals; Sausage and Mash is one of those. Young children tend to like to be able to identify each component of their meal so this simple trio of protein, carbohydrate and vitamin is ideal. When you have few ingredients it’s important to buy the best quality you can afford. The minted peas give a fresh and bright contrast to the comforting textures of sausage and mash. Remember to tweak recipes to suit your time and skill so if you need to whip up some premade gravy, go for it. Recipes should suit you not the other way round.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 Adults & 2 Kids
12 thick, free range pork sausages
600g mashing potatoes
250ml of milk
40g butter
salt and pepper
for the gravy
1 tbsp plain flour
300ml veg stock
1 tsp malt vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
for the peas
400g peas
small bunch of mint
knob of butter
sea salt

• Peel and quarter the potatoes then put into a large pot of cold, salted water. Put the pan on a medium high heat. You don’t want to boil the potatoes too quickly as it makes them stodgy. The potatoes should be ready after 25 minutes to drain and mash. Add the butter first then the milk and season to taste with salt and pepper.

• Put a tablespoon of veg oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan and heat on a medium high heat. You don’t want the outsides to burn and leave the centre uncooked. Put all the sausages in the pan and leave for 4 minutes for the sausages to brown then give the pan a shake to brown on another side for 4 minutes. Turn each sausage again to brown another side then pop the pan into a 170°C (150°C fan) pre-heated oven for 8 minutes.

• Transfer the cooked sausages to a serving dish. Put the serving dish back in the oven and turn off the heat. They’ll keep warm in the residual heat while you make the gravy.
• Put the frying pan back on the heat and whisk the flour into the sausage fat then cook for a minute before gradually whisking in the stock and vinegar to make gravy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Boil a small pan of salted water, add the peas and cook until the peas float then drain. Add a knob of butter to the peas and finely chopped mint leaves then sprinkle over a little sea salt.