Borlotti beans, browned onions and sausages recipe
This is perfect for the kind of day when hunkering down on the sofa (or bed) is pretty much the extent of what you want to do. Picture that scene, then imagine your kitchen being filled with the warm notes of buttery onions, beans and sage as they putter away on the stove. Then add the smell of sausages as they caramelise and colour in their own juices… It’s brown food. It’s nourishing. It’s food in which you’ll want to wallow.
Note: you'll need to soak the borlotti beans for around 8 hours if they're dried.
Ingredients
- 200 g dried borlotti beans (or the same quantity of fresh, podded beans)
- 4 medium onions (follow peeling instructions in method)
- 40 g salted butter
- 1 bulb garlic, halved across its width
- 3 bay leaves
- 4 sprigs of sage
- 8 fat sausages
- 1 pinch each of flaky sea salt and ground black pepper
- 4 dollops of English mustard
- 1 pot of blanched cavolo nero, curly kale, Tenderstem or purple sprouting broccoli
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Sausages
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 115 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- If dried, soak the borlotti in cold water for 8 hours, then drain. (You can also pour boiling water over dried borlotti and soak for just 1 hour if you need to speed things up.)
- Cut the onions in half from tip to root, then peel them, leaving the root section as intact as possible (so that the onion layers stay together while they cook).
- Choose a heavy-bottomed lidded casserole or saucepan large enough to fit the onion halves in one layer.
- Place over a medium heat, add the butter and, once that’s melted, the onions cut-side down. Cook for 8–10 minutes without turning so that they are well browned. Add the garlic halves, giving the cut faces a minute of butter time, then remove the pan from the heat.
- The butter and base of the pan will probably be burnt and acrid now. If so, remove the onions and garlic, wipe the pan clean with a paper towel or wash it. Then return the onions and garlic to the casserole, cut sides facing up, now, and put it back on the stove (still at a medium heat).
- Tip the beans around the onions and fill the pan with cold water to the tops of (but not over) the onions. Add the bay leaves and two sprigs of sage, bring to a gentle simmer and place a lid on top, slightly ajar.
- Let that bubble away gently for a total of around 90 minutes until both the skin and flesh of the beans are soft. You will need to add water after 30 or 40 minutes, again to the tops of the onions but not over. The sage will be a spent force after an hour, so swap the used with the remaining two sprigs and top up the water again. Ideally there’ll be four to five ladles’ worth of broth once cooked.
- Cook the sausages as you wish to, beginning when the beans are around 20 minutes from being ready. I like to roll sausages around in a frying pan at quite a gentle pace as I think that’s the best way to end up with well-coloured plump and juicy snags. But roast or grill them if you prefer a hands-free approach.
- Squeeze the soft flesh from the garlic halves into the broth and stir that flavour in and around. Season with lots of salt and a furious amount of black pepper and add more water, if necessary, before serving the beans, onions and broth with the sausages, some greens and a smudge of English mustard.
This recipe is from CRAVE: Recipes arranged by flavour, to suit your mood and appetite by Ed Smith (Quadrille, £25). Photography: Sam A Harris.
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