This week I made sausage and mash, which is a big favorite here in the UK. I made this for dinner one night during the week, and it's something that I make regularly, provided I have good-quality sausages, either in the fridge or the freezer.

I like to make a stout onion gravy using Guinness. If I don't have the Guinness, I will use red wine and make an onion gravy with that. It's my perfect idea of comfort food, especially as the weather is now starting to turn colder, and this dish is filling but also really comforting too.

I like to have plenty of butter and cream in my mash, but you could also serve this with polenta if you didn't have any potatoes. It would probably even work with rice. Just make sure you have plenty of the sauce or gravy to spoon over the sausages.

From a YouTube Chef to My Own Stout Gravy

This recipe started out as something that I came across on YouTube from a famous chef. I kind of played around with it not only to make it my own but also to learn how to make a good sausage and mash, as it's a classic.

I have been making it for well over a year now. The original used Guinness to make a rich gravy, but sometimes I will use other types of stout. I will even use red wine as I tend to have that at home more often.

I follow a similar recipe to the original and use a similar technique, but I will play around with the herbs that I add and the alcohol that I use. I will even vary up the stock that I use and see how it changes the gravy. I always like to keep tweaking the recipe slightly until I eventually end up with something that I'm really happy with.

Good Sausages, Stout and a Bag of Frozen Peas

This recipe in the UK is called bangers and mash, and bangers are what we call sausages. The main thing this dish is based around is these sausages, so I like to make sure I use a really good-quality sausage. There are a lot of variations and products out there that are not the best and contain some nasty ingredients.

From there, it's all about the gravy. I always like to make sure I use good onions and good stock, along with Guinness, which is a famous Irish stout, so you can use that. Other stouts, if you have them, you could even use dark beer or ale, just something to make the gravy rich.

I also use red wine at times, as I have this more often at home.

This is all plated up on a bed of mashed potatoes, and I like to serve it up with green peas. I just use frozen green peas as they are just as good as fresh, and I always keep a bag of them in the freezer. You could also use different green veg or your favorite vegetable instead.

There's nothing really that is hard to find. It's all basic pantry ingredients.

Reducing the Guinness and Ricing the Mash

To make this dish, I first start off with the sausages. I like to gently pan-fry them in a non-stick pan over a medium heat and get them nicely coloured all round, nice and evenly. I do this until they are pretty much fully cooked through, then remove them from the pan and begin making up the gravy for the sausages.

I soften the onions in a little oil or oil and butter, then add some garlic and some herbs. The potatoes and veg are also gently bubbling away during this time.

When it comes to adding the Guinness, I like to reduce it down so that it gets rid of some of the bitterness and you just get the umami flavor into the gravy. A little mustard is added to the gravy just to give it a bit of bite. Once it starts to thicken up slightly, the sausages are then added back in, and everything is reheated through before serving on top of the buttery mash.

The mash is probably what takes the longest. If you really want to get it super smooth, you have to start the potatoes in cold water and bring them up to a gentle boil slowly, then cook them until soft. From here, I like to use a ricer, rice them, and also push the roasted potatoes through a fine-mesh sieve to get a velvet mash.

I know that the recipe is ready once the potatoes have come together. The veg only needs to be boiled for a few minutes, and the sauce is thickened enough to coat and glaze the sausages.

Swaps From Polenta to Caramelized Onions

My main tips and swaps for this dish are:

1. Definitely ensure the best quality sausages that you can find. I usually just use a straightforward pork sausage, but you could also switch it up and use different flavoured sausages (spicy sausages and sausages flavored with different herbs and spices), depending on what you're looking for from the final dish.
2. If you want to make this a bit quicker, you don't have to go through all the process of making a super velvety mashed potato. You can do it with a hand masher if you prefer it a bit more rustic. I just like to have really nice silky mash.
3. You can also change up what sides you serve it with: a side of vegetables. I always choose peas, but you could use broccoli or beans, depending on what you're looking for.
4. I just soften the onions until they are lovely and soft, but you could also go further and really caramelize them to get as much flavor as you can into the gravy. Beware that this will take a lot longer to cook, as caramelized onions take forever.
5. Instead of potatoes, you could use polenta or even sweet potato mash. I think even making the potatoes a little cheesy would work well with this dish.
6. You could even turn this into a breakfast version using your favorite breakfast sausage.

A Cozy Solo Dinner That Earned a 10 out of 10

I made this for myself, and I'm the one who ate it. It was really delicious. I have made it for our family, but this week it was just for myself as something warm and comforting, as the weather is getting colder.

The best part about this dish is the buttery mash combined with the rich gravy. I would definitely give this a 10 out of 10.

Why Sausages Burst and Mash Needs Cold Water

I would say the hardest thing about this recipe is cooking the sausages properly. It's really easy to put them on too high a heat, and they end up either burning or bursting open, and it ruins the appearance of the dish.

The mashed potato, if you are trying to get it super silky, can be tricky too if you haven't done it before. The key to good mash is always starting with cold water to cook the potatoes. Don't try to skip a step or rush it.

If you are looking for velvet mashed potatoes, the rest is pretty straightforward. Just make sure you pick your favorite good-quality sausage. They are the main ingredient, so let them shine.

Keep reading

• Tuesday Cottage Pie for the Soccer Practice Crowd
• My Tarka Dal After Four Years of Tweaking, Three Days of Meals
• My Busy-Week Penne all’Arrabbiata, Made My Way