When we had our firstborn son, my Husband was in his first year of a pretty demanding five year degree. Being the poor Uni student family that we were, I had to get creative with cooking and that is probably where a large portion of my love of cooking came from. Sausages, mince, pasta and curries were our staples as I could literally clean out the fridge and pantry for the last couple of days before payday (there was always funds allocated for the gratuitous Goon). Anchovy Pasta, Bangers & Mash, Sausage Curry, Spag Bol, Meatballs, Burgers……you get the picture. The kids were so used to eating sausages and mince that they literally couldn’t chew other cuts of meat. It would frustrate the hell out of me when I would lash out and cook a roast and they would chew and chew and chew and then spit out a ball of greyish/brown matter onto the side of their plate, claiming to not be able to swallow. Poor underprivileged darlings.

Anyway, the point to this story is, I still love sausages. Really good, no preservative, chock full of flavour, fatties from the butcher. In any type of meat denomination. This recipe calls for you to cook YOUR favourite sausages. Maybe refrain from Asian flavoured as I am not sure how well it would go with the rest of the ingredients, but make sure you get good ones as they are definitely the star of the show!

 

Prep time: 15 Minutes Cooking time: 30 Minutes $ Low Budget

 

Serves 4

 

8 Big Fat Sausages of your choice

400gm of Jap or Kent pumpkin, skin on and cut into wedges

1 large red onion, skin removed with the roots intact and cut into wedges

1 punnet of heirloom tomatoes or about 400gm of assorted tomatoes, halved

1 whole bulb of garlic, broken up, leaving skin intact

1 Bag of baby rocket leaves

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Good quality balsamic vinegar for drizzling

1 tsp of chilli flakes

1 tsp of dried oregano

Grated rind of 1 lemon

Sea salt and pepper

1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts

100gm of Greek fetta, crumbled

2 tbs of chopped fresh continental parsley

 

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

 

I find the easiest way to fit everything in a tray bake is to use one of the grilling trays from the oven. They are nice and large and flat and allow everything to cook nice and evenly.

 

Line a large tray with baking paper and place the sausages, pumpkin (sitting up on its skin), red onion wedges and garlic cloves randomly around the tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the chilli flakes and oregano. Toss with your hands lightly to make sure everything is coated and stand the pumpkin back up so the skin is down. Grate the lemon rind over the top and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

 

After 20 minutes have passed, scatter the tomatoes around the tray and drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar. Place back in the oven for a further 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are nice and blistered.

 

To serve, place a generous handful of baby rocket on each plate. Drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic (just a little) and season. Divide the tray ingredients on top of the rocket, in a random fashion. Finally, sprinkle over the fetta, pine nuts and parsley and give a final drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It seriously doesn’t get any easier than that!

 

If you liked this sausage recipe, I think you’ll absolutely love this one!

https://emsfoodforfriends.com.au/big-johns-sausage-curry/