CF Recipe: Sausage, leeks and cream – one-pot wonder

Full disclaimer: I have no idea where I learnt this recipe, but I am 110% sure that it is not something I made up myself. I remember reading it and thinking 1/ YUM! 2/ god that looks easy. Basically the two credentials for any mid-week supper in our household. You may all immediately sigh and say ‘yeah, durrrr, it’s like Nigel Slater and everyone knows about it,’ in which case I apologise. But even if there are 3 of your out there that haven’t tried this, it’s worth the post. Once you’ve made it, you’ll never stop.

Over the last 4 years or so, I have made this 14,502 times. Every time I groan with happiness at the first bite. Yes, as the picture shows, it really is just the three ingredients (and the usual butter/oil/salt/pepper). Of course it’s terribly unhealthy but I’m not suggesting you eat it everyday, but for cold autumnal evenings when a slow-roast stew is too much faff, this hits the ‘comfort food’ spot nicely. In under 40 mins beginning to end.

I apologise in advance for the photos (and the much-loved, but battered, Le Creuset). The lighting in our kitchen is brutal, but I figured the snaps are meant to be illustrative rather than works of art, so….

Ingredients:

I am being purposefully vague here because it is designed to be made for 2, 4, 6 people.

I used (for two famished adults):

6 x organic sausages

3 x handfuls of chopped leeks (I can’t say how many leeks as they vary so wildly in size)

100-120ml of double cream (you want the cream to come halfway up the sausages, this did it for us).

A good knob of butter

splash of olive oil

salt + pepper

Start by melting your butter with a splash of oil to stop it burning (medium heat). Once completely melted add the chopped leeks. Grab a glass of wine and occasionally give them a little stir. You don’t want any colouring, just wilted, completely softened and mellowed leeks. It should take 10-12 mins.

Set the leeks aside and add the sausages (and a little more oil), turn up the heat and let them sizzle. This time you DO want them to colour.

Once they’re a nice golden brown and sticky, add the leeks back in, giving the sausages an even covering.

Finally, turn down the heat to medium/low and pour in the cream. You want the sausages half submerged.

Now, put a lid on and leave them. Come back every 5 mins to give them a shuffle (don’t stir madly), to ensure nothing is sticking.

After 15-20mins the cream will have thickened and taken on the juices from the sausages and it will all feel like it’s hanging together. Now it’s ready to eat.

We devoured ours with roasted new pots and baby carrots and tenderstem broccoli.

Let me know how you get on!

www.lecreuset.co.uk