Jamie Oliver, Jamie's Dinners

Jamie Oliver's best sausage and super mash with onion gravy

INGREDIENTS

2 long, curled Cumberland sausages
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
a bunch of fresh sage, leaves picked
olive oil
a bunch of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
2kg potatoes, peeled
1¼ cups (300ml) milk
120g butter
¼ cup freshly grated horseradish, or
use jarred
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium red onions, peeled and
finely sliced
1/3 cup (80ml) balsamic or red wine vinegar
2 beef or chicken stock cubes

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. If you’re using the traditional round Cumberland sausage, tuck the garlic and most of the sage leaves between the layers of sausage. If you’re using normal sausages, untwist the links and squeeze the meat through, rolling them into a tight circle and pushing in the garlic and sage as you go. (This will give the sausages a terrific flavour.) Secure the sausages with a couple of skewers or some sharp rosemary stalks. Place them on an oiled baking tray, drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with rosemary leaves. Cook in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until crisp and golden.

Five minutes before the sausages are ready, remove the baking tray from the oven, place the rest of the sage leaves next to the sausages, drizzle with olive oil, and return the tray to the oven. The leaves will go lovely and crispy.

While the sausages are cooking, chop your potatoes into rough chunks and boil them in salted water until cooked. Drain well, using a colander, then return them to the pan. Mash until smooth, adding the milk, 70g of the butter and the horseradish (use more if needed). Season well to taste, then put the lid on the pan and keep warm at the back of the stove.

Making the onion gravy is simple. Fry the onions – really slowly in a little oil, covered, for about 15 minutes until soft. Remove the lid, turn up the heat and, as soon as the onions become golden brown, pour in the vinegar and boil until it almost disappears. Turn down the heat, add the rest of the butter, crumble in your stock cubes and 2¼ cups (560ml) water and stir well. Let this simmer until you have a nice gravy consistency.

To serve, dollop some oozy potatoes on the plate, chop up the sausages (discarding the skewers), put them alongside the mash and spoon over the onion gravy. Scatter with the crispy sage leaves.