Sausage and Cider Casserole Recipe | Eat Local Dinner Party Ideas

The guys over at Leisure Range Cookers have created a Foodie Guide to celebrate eating local. (Although they seem to have missed off Manchester and Birmingham, but at least I’ve blogged about those so you can just check out my guides – hehe!) As part of this campaign some bloggers were asked to create dinner party recipe for one course celebrating local produce. For my Sausage and Cider Casserole recipe I used sausages from our favourite local butchers who make their own recipe called ‘Old Worcester.’  I also used cider from a local apple farm, and all my fresh ingredients from the green grocers. Last but not least, I also used some Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce! I wanted to celebrate Worcester as much as I could with this recipe, as there is some great produce out there.

Sausage and Cider Casserole

A hearty dinner that is worth the effort.

 Prep Time 20 minutes

 Cook Time 1 hour

 Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

 Servings 4

 Author MissPond

Ingredients

• 8 Pork Sausages
• 4 Eschallion shallots thinly sliced
• 1 Leek thinly sliced
• 1 Clove garlic crushed
• 200 g Smoked bacon lardons
• 3 Baking potatoes peeled and chopped into 1cm chunks
• 1 tbsp Cider vinegar
• 3 tbsp Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp Dark brown sugar
• 2 tbsp Plain flour
• 1 tsp Mixed herbs
• 500 ml Cider
• 500 ml Chicken stock
• 1 Can of butterbeans drained
• Olive oil

Instructions

1. Put a glug of olive oil in a casserole dish. Turn the heat to medium and get the sausages into brown. Don’t prick them before cooking. After a bit put the bacon lardons in.
2. Once the sausages have browned and lardons have cooked put the leek and shallots into soften, add a splash of water if you think things are sticking. Then put the crushed garlic in and cook for a few minutes until fragrant.
3. Put the cider vinegar, Worcester sauce and brown sugar in. Stir through. Then shake the flour over the contents of the pan and stir through again.
4. Pour in the cider and the stock, mixed herbs and stir. Then add the potatoes, stir again, turn the heat down and pop the lid on for 40 mins to simmer. Stir every so often.
5. After this time, add in the beans, extra water if you think it needs it. Keep the lid off and cook for 15-20 mins (check the potatoes are cooked before serving).
6. Stir through black pepper and serve in bowls with sliced bread on the side if you like. Peas and carrots also make good sides for this dish! Enjoy!

This Sausage and Cider Casserole recipe is a serious winter warmer. Our friends really enjoyed it and I’ve made it several times since, it doesn’t freeze well because of the potatoes, but you can make a batch for a couple of days of leftovers.