Hello, dear Bubele readers – it’s my daughter’s 15th birthday today, and as I write I am baking a sticky toffee pudding cake.  I’ve got toffee bubbling, dates seeping, butter icing softening and the smell of 3 layers of delicious Muscovado sugar, treacle and golden syrup sponge baking in the oven.  I’ve got an hour before I pick her up from school, and so little time to prepare anything to go before the sugar-laden pudding cake we will be tucking into this afternoon.  So, what am I going to cook for supper?  Well, I am going to reach for one of my quickest, and yet most delicious recipes for a mid-week supper.  It’s a fabulous Sausage Tray Bake.  It can be prepared in 3 minutes and is ready to devour after an hour.   It is my ‘go to’ mid-week recipe when I am too busy to think about what’s for supper but need something delicious at the end of the day.  Have a look at me cooking this on my YouTube channel….

The ingredients are simple:  Some good quality sausages (by that I mean, sausages with a high meat content – about 97% is fantastic and I find Heck are one of the best on the market), a couple of red onions and a couple of handfuls of new potatoes. I find that small baby ones are preferable in this dish as you don’t want huge boulder size potatoes cramping the style of the dish nor for that matter cut potatoes but this an aesthetic rather than altering the taste of the dish. In addition, a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.

You start by peeling and chopping the onions. Use red onions here as they are sweeter than white onions and really suit the flavour of the dish.  Roughly chop the onions into wedges and then spread them over the bottom of the tray. Scatter the new potatoes around the dish next and judge the quantity by how hungry your family is. Next, arrange the sausages on top of the potatoes and onions and glug some olive oil over the tray (three tablespoons). The juice from the sausages is going to ooze out and add to the beautiful unctuous nature of the sauce.

After half an hour in the oven, you add the tomatoes and the secret ingredient – Balsamic vinegar. Its sweet and sour nature is perfect for the sauce combining with the sweetness of the onions and the sharp and sweet juice of the cherry tomatoes. This goes back into the oven for another 30 minutes and then its ready to devour.

This is a classic mid-week recipe but is so delicious and appealing that I often serve it for a couple of families at a Saturday lunch party.  The recipes doubles or even quadruples brilliantly.  I do hope you enjoy it, I’d love to hear your feedback. You can watch me cooking it, then make it yourself and watch it disappear.

Happy Cooking!

Sausage Tray Bake (Serves 4)

Please forgive the sketchy quantities in this recipe.  It entirely depends on what you have in your fridge and how hungry you are. It couldn’t be easier, and however many potatoes or tomatoes you decide to throw in, it will always be delicious.

Ingredients:

  • 8 good quality sausages
  • 2 red onions
  • a glug of olive oil
  • balsamic vinegar
  • a packet of new potatoes
  • a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes

Turn your oven to 190°C

  1. Slice the red onions and put in the roasting
  2. Add the new potatoes
  3. Throw your sausages on top with a good glug of olive oil
  4. Put in the oven for about 30 minutes

Add the tomatoes

  1. After half an hour, turn the sausages and then scatter the tomatoes on top
  2. Sprinkle over a good few dashes of balsamic vinegar
  3. Cook for another 30 minutes, or until your sausages are beautifully browned and your potatoes cooked through

Note: This recipe can easily be doubled or even quadrupled to feed a crowd.

Find out more

Emma Smith is an experienced cook who is passionate about making (and eating) delicious food. She set up Emma’s Kitchen in 2016 in response to growing requests from friends and neighbours for cooking and recipe advice. Emma is married with three children. When she’s not in the kitchen she is busy running a private nursery for local pre-school children.

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