The Cooking Coach – Sausages in Onion and Tomato Sauce
Posted on: 21/09/2016
Karen Vivers is originally from Scotland and has lived in Amsterdam since 1997. Following on from her award winning delicatessen, Karen now runs her business ‘The Cooking Coach’.
The Cooking Coach is all about sharing great food. Karen does this by eating her way through Amsterdam with her Private Food Tour clients or writing about food in the city and further afield. And, if she’s not eating out, she’s cooking at home – developing lots of tasty recipes to share on her blog or for her next cookbook.
Sausages in Onion and Tomato Sauce
I really can’t resist a sausage, and when autumn starts to peek its head around the corner, the cravings only increase. Luckily, I’ve got lots of sausage recipes – not that you need a recipe, a good old sausage sandwich (or piece n’ sausage as we’d say in Scotland) with loads of tomato ketchup or brown sauce is hard to beat.
If you live in Amsterdam there’s no shortage of good butchers making their own excellent sausages these days. I normally go to Alain Bernard, or the French butcher as he’s known, on the Albert Cuypstraat for mine, and lots of other meats too. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re French, but the cuts seem to be more similar to those I recognise from the UK, and they understand the need for large pieces of meat to roast, whereas in the Netherlands, very often the meat at the butchers is already portioned up into small pieces.
This recipe is one of my versions of a sausage and mash style meal. It has a tangy, almost sweet and sour sauce instead of the traditional onion gravy. I love to serve it as pictured with wild spinach and garlic (you’ll find this recipe on my website) and some mashed potatoes.
Oh, the ketchup I use in the sauce is my own home made chunky tomato ketchup for which you will also find the recipe on my website but don’t worry, any good ketchup will work.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Serves 4
1 x tbsp olive oil
600 to 800gr / 1.3 to 1.7 lb sausages. I like to use plain pork, something like bratwurst or a breakfast sausage.
2 x large onions sliced into thin rings
3 x large cloves of garlic chopped finely
6 x medium sized ripe tomatoes, chopped roughly
3 x tbsps tomato ketchup
2 x tsps English mustard
1 x tbsp tomato purée
100ml / 4 fl. oz. red wine
100ml / 4 fl. oz. water
1 x tbsp of fresh thyme leaves chopped finely
1 x tbsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Heat the oil in a deep sauté pan then place the sausages in it, turning them to brown. Leave them on each side a couple of minutes to do this. Make sure your pan is on a relatively high heat so that you get colour.
2. Add the onions and garlic, allow to brown and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the wine and water to deglaze the pan, stir through.
4. Add the tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, tomato purée, thyme, honey and a little salt and pepper. Stir through and bring to the boil. Set the heat to a gentle simmer, cover with a close fitting lid and let the sausages cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until they are cooked through.
5. Check for seasoning and serve.
Tips and Variations
* The sausages don’t have to be completely covered by the sauce during cooking, about half way up is fine.
* When the sausages are cooked you can reduce the sauce if you want by turning up the heat, taking the lid off and allowing to cook until you get a thicker more concentrated sauce.
* I like to serve these sausages with some boiled potatoes and garlic spinach.
Love Food, Live Healthy