Bangers, Mash and Onion Gravy
You may not need a recipe for this classic winter meal, but you do need a recipe for this excellent onion gravy! The onions are sweet yet there is a real rich well-rounded depth to that sauce - Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme and mustard work wonders together. Best served with lots of mashed potato and a couple of bangers.
Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 4 high-quality pork sausages I used a massive spiral sausage which technically fed 4
- 1 large onion
- 100 ml water
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 450 ml beef stock
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard or ½ tsp English mustard powder
- 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
- 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- 500 g floury potatoes potatoes best for mashing ideally King Edward or Maris Piper
- 50 ml milk
- 1 tbsp butter optional
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Set a frying pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the sausages. Brown on either side.
- While the sausages are browning, slice the onion in half and cut out thin wedges.
- Remove the sausages from the pan, add the onions and stir to coat in sausage fat. Spread them out so they are evenly spaced in one layer. Place the sausages on top then cover with a lid and steam for 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F. Combine the beef stock with Worcestershire sauce, the chopped herbs and mustard.
- Peel the potatoes, wash and chop into 1cm-wide pieces. Fill a saucepan with water, add salt and bring to the boil over high heat.
- Remove the lid from the sausages and onions. Slide the sausages onto a tray and put them in the oven to finish cooking - depending on their size, they should need between 5 and 10 minutes.
- Stir the onions briefly, then add the brown sugar and some salt, stir again to distribute evenly and to ensure the pieces are well spread out, and then try as hard as you can to leave the onions - resist stirring! This will burn off any moisture and caramelise the sugar. Check on them regularly to make sure they don't burn. If the moisture is still there, turn up the heat. After 5 minutes, they should have darkened and caramelised.
- Meanwhile, add the potatoes to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes or so.
- Add the butter and stir to melt all over the onions. Tip in the tablespoon of flour and again stir to coat. Cook gently, lower the heat if necessary, for 2 minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat.
- Slowly pour in the stock mixture. Add a bit at a time and stir to combine with each addition to make sure there are no missed lumps. Pour and stir until all the liquid is added, then return the pan to the heat and turn the temperature up. Bring to a simmer, adjust the temperature if necessary. Stir with a whisk as it will start to thicken.
- Check on the sausages and if they are done - the skin is darkened, crisp and bursting - remove them from the oven.
- Check the potato slices by slicing through one with a cutlery knife. If it is done it will easily fall apart. Drain the potatoes in a colander, return them to the pan and leave to steam dry for a few minutes.
- Mix together the cornflour with a tablespoon of water in a ramekin then pour it into the gravy. Quickly stir with a whisk to prevent lumps from forming. Taste the gravy and season with some salt and pepper.
- Mash the potatoes and add the milk, butter if using, salt and some pepper.
- Serve the mash on a plate topped with the bangers then cover in onion gravy.