Sausage Casserole

This is a good hearty, filling and comforting casserole that is very easy to prepare. It can be made in either the oven or a slow cooker (see notes) and only takes one pot. The sweet potato adds color and texture, the beans make it stick to your ribs. I like to serve it with good crusty whole wheat dinner rolls and salad… OK, I’m lying about the salad.

Ingredients

• 1 lb/455g of your favorite dinner sausage, cut into bite-size chunks
• 2 TBSP Olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into a large dice
• 1 TBSP finely chopped garlic
• 1 lb/455g butternut squash OR sweet potato, cut into 1/2″ chunks
• 1 TBSP tomato paste
• 1 TBSP plain white all-purpose flour
• 1/2c/125ml red wine
• 1 x 14oz can of diced tomatoes in tomato juice
• 2 x 14oz can of cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 chicken Knorr cube dissolved into 10oz/300ml hot water
• 4 or 5 few sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dry
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp Salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350f/180c
2. In a heavy-based casserole pan, fry the sausages until well browned. They do not need to be cooked through, just browned well. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3. Turn up the heat and add the olive oil, onions and sweet potato/squash chunks to the pan and cook until they start to brown.
4. Add in the flour and tomato paste, stir constantly for 2 minutes.
5. Pour in the wine and scrape up any bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan.
6. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the pot and add back in the sausages along with any juices.
7. Stir well to combine, put the lid on and put the casserole pan in the middle of the oven.
8. Bake for one hour, stir well and remove the bay leaf before serving.

Notes

• Sometimes it’s just to damn hot to bake things in the oven, so half the amount of water you use (5oz/150ml) and just pour everything into your slow cooker instead of putting the casserole pan in the oven, turn it up to high and let it cook for about 2 hours.