Sausages in Wheat Beer

This is a simple, cheap (or cheapish), low-effort dish that's also very comforting and warming on cold, January days.

I admit that many French sausages taste very strange to me but, some years ago, I came across some particularly fine sausages in the Cotentin and this is one of the ways they were being cooked. The original version of the dish contained some excellent Normandy black pudding but, if you don't fancy that or can't lay your hands on any, then do what I did here and use a little chorizo.

There are some very fine beers in the north of France but the Cotentin is probably better known for cider and you could certainly replace the beer with cider in this recipe. I do think the beer adds a good contrast to the apples, though. If you can't find wheat beer, then you can substitute a light style of beer such as one of multitude of trendy pale ales that seem to be popping up everywhere lately. 

You could use any sausages you fancy but I think larger sausages with a high meat content work best. You could use any apples you fancy too but I like the mix of one dessert and one cooking apple to give a little extra acidity. (Cooking apples aren't very French, admittedly). The apples and potatoes will largely break up during cooking and lightly crushing them at the end gives a sausage and mash feeling with a very different sort of flavour. Don't worry about being too precise on quantities here; this dish is very forgiving. 

This should serve two quite generously and it doesn't need a lot with it to make a complete meal. Admittedly, a little bit of baguette is always welcome round here and a dollop of wholegrain mustard might not go amiss.

4 large or 6 average-sized sausages
500 g (or thereabouts) potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped or sliced (Maris Pipers work well)
1 small piece of black pudding or chorizo, chopped into small chunks
2 apples, peeled, core and chopped into large chunks or slices
330 ml (that's an average small bottle) wheat beer
A few parsley and/or chervil leaves to finish

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Add a little butter to a large frying pan over a medium heat, season the potato pieces with salt and pepper and fry them until they are starting to become lightly browned. Transfer them to an ovenproof casserole dish.

Add the black pudding or chorizo and fry briefly (add a little oil or butter, if necessary). Transfer to the casserole dish. Fry the sausages until they are lightly browned on all sides. Transfer to the casserole dish. Briefly fry the apple chunks before adding them to the casserole as well.

Increase the heat and pour the beer into the frying pan. Stir, making sure that you loosen any tasty bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to the boil and pour into the casserole dish. Add a little more seasoning to the casserole and carefully stir the contents to mix them up a bit. Cover the casserole quite tightly and place in the oven for around 35 minutes.

After this time the apples should be very soft and the potatoes should be close to breaking up. Remove the sausages from the casserole and place on a warmed serving dish. Lightly crush the remaining contents of the casserole with the back of a serving spoon or a potato masher and add to the serving dish. Add a light sprinkling of the chopped parsley or chervil just before serving if you're feeling fancy.