Like Henry Dimbleby, I can be found foraging around other people's fridges or cupboards. I usually draw a line at rubbish bins and compost caddies, yet recently I almost felt inclined to rescue what looked like two perfectly formed plump cooked sausages nestled among the potato peelings in a friend's compost bin. Almost, but not quite.
"What was wrong with them?" I asked.
"Nothing," my friend replied. My inner frugal banshee started to wail, tapering off to a mournful keen. Both my banshee and I were choked, speechless. "We just didn't fancy them," said my friend with a shrug. So two fat butcher's bangers, the zeppelins of the sausage world, were dispatched to the compost heap, as I mourned their loss and a wasted opportunity for some creative leftovers.
Sausages go with so many different ingredients; in terms of leftovers you are spoiled for choice, although it may well depend on whether you are using leftover cooked sausages or the few fresh ones surplus to requirements.
Creamy sausage pasta with caramelised onions
Serves 2
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, halved and sliced
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
2 pork sausages, cooked, thickly sliced
50ml chicken or vegetable stock
juice of ½ a lemon
cream
1 tbsp freshly grated parmesan or pecorino, to serve
salt and freshly ground black pepper
pasta (I used elicoidali, a medium-sized, ridged pasta tube)
Gently fry the onions in olive oil for about 15 minutes until soft and beginning to caramelise. Add the garlic and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Add a splash of water (or stock) if it looks as if the onions are "catching".
Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water.
Add the sliced sausage to the onions and fry for 2-3 minutes until the cut surfaces have coloured a little.
Pour over the stock and cook for another 2 minutes before adding the lemon juice and cream. Stir well to combine. If the sauce looks too thick, then add a splash of the pasta cooking water.
Check the seasoning. Add the pasta and stir well to combine, ensuring the pasta is warmed through. Serve with grated cheese.
Braised red cabbage with sausage
Serves 2
½ medium red cabbage, cored and finely shredded
vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced in rings
1 eating apple, sliced
2 sausages, chopped
½ tsp caraway seeds (or ground cinnamon)
100ml red wine (or red wine vinegar)
100ml water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sour cream, to serve
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large heavy-based saucepan. Gently fry the onion rings for 10 minutes, until beginning to soften.
Add the apple pieces, chopped sausage and spice. Cook for at least 2 minutes. (If the sausages are uncooked, you may want to cook for a few more minutes until they take on some colour.)
Add the cabbage, wine or vinegar and water. Bring to the boil, then cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for 1 hour on the lowest heat. Check the water content and add more if the braise looks too dry.
Check the seasoning and serve with a dollop of sour cream.
An eastern European hunters' style meatball stew
I had a couple of leftover venison sausages. Since they were already highly flavoured with a little juniper, orange zest and ginger, I wanted to ensure that whatever I cooked them with wouldn't be drowned out by the strong flavours. I took my inspiration (if not authenticity) from a Polish hunters' stew, Bigos, which would also typically contain sauerkraut.
Serves 2-3
1 tbsp oil
a knob of butter
1-2 English onions, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
1 smoked streaky bacon rasher, diced
100g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
3 venison sausages
250-400ml stock (I used chicken but beef or vegetable would work too)
1 glass of red wine
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
50g prunes, chopped
a sprig of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
cooked potatoes, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil and butter together in a heavy-based saucepan. Gently fry the onions for 10 minutes until beginning to soften.
Add the garlic, bacon and mushrooms. Continue to fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Skin the sausages and form the meat into balls (about the size of a small walnut).
Add the meatballs to the onion-bacon mixture. Cook gently until the meatballs take on some colour.
Add the stock, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, prunes, thyme and bay leaves.
Bring to the boil, and then simmer for about 45 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.
About 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time, I added a few chopped leftover cooked potatoes.
Other ideas:
4. Sausages and potatoes are a marriage made in heaven, especially mashed potato. But have you tried them in a German-style potato salad with gherkins? Take Felicity Cloake's perfect spud salad recipe and add nuggets of sausage. (Whether you decide to leave out the anchovies is another matter - I find they go beautifully with pork flavours.)
5. Or what about Nigel Slater's hearty potato, bacon and sausage bake?
6. Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has a lovely recipe for a Spanish-style tortilla made with leftover sausages and potatoes.
7. And while you're looking at the tortilla recipe, have a look at HFW's classic toad-in-the-hole recipe - another good way of using up leftover cooked sausages. Small chunks of sausage added to the batter in a Yorkshire pudding tin makes a little sausage go a long way.
8. One of my favourite stews is a way of eking out the dog-end of a cured chorizo sausage, padded out with a little bacon for extra flavour, and combined with sweet roasted peppers – a perfect match.
9. Sausages with most vegetables, especially roasted veg, are a really good combination. One of my favourite ways to use cooked sausages is to serve them with caramelised onions or leeks on a bed of buttery, crushed peas (made with a bag of frozen peas means it is a great store-cupboard standby; feels like summer all year around).
10. Another more recent discovery is that sausages go beautifully with fennel, especially in a zesty tomato and fennel stew.
11 and 12. Sausages and beans is something of a classic, as with lentils, as simple as you like or a HFW's hotpot with prunes.
I have only touched the surface of what can be done with leftover sausages, mainly concentrating on European comfort food. Is there a cuisine or culture that I have left out? Perhaps sausage in jambalaya? What would they do in south east Asia? Share your ideas in the comments below.
Rachel Kelly is the Guardian home cook of the year 2013. Read more on her website or follow her on Twitter @MarmadukeS.
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