Super Sausage with Real Tomato Chilli Jam

11:30 am on 6 December 2010

This is real man’s food that you can actually sink your teeth into. It’s for blokes who love food and love getting their hands dirty. I find the merguez (spicy lamb sausage) and pork flavours work well, but feel free to try others. Good sausages are generally solid meat with very little fat – overcooking makes them dry and tough so make sure they are just cooked and no more.

(Serves 4)

sausageIngredients

  • 6 spicy merguez sausages
  • 6 good pork sausages
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • olive oil
  • 2 long bamboo skewers
  • tomato chilli jam (see basics)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the merguez on a large board. Untwist and squish the sausages until you have one large sausage. Repeat with the pork sausages. Chop the rosemary with the garlic, salt and pepper and mix in a small amount of olive oil to form a very thick salsa.

Lay both sausages flat on a large chopping board and rub half the rosemary salsa mixture over one side of each sausage. Lay the sausages side by side until you have one long sausage. Coil the sausage into a circle and place the 2 bamboo skewers through the centre to hold it together. Pour any leftover rosemary salsa over the top. Season with pepper.

Heat a heavy-based ovenproof frying pan to high on the stove top and drizzle with olive oil. Add the sausage coil and brown for 5 minutes, then place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes.

Allow to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes. Serve withtomato chilli jam on the side and a large glass of pinot noir.

Keith Stewart’s wine recommendation

www.truewines.co.nz

Te Awa Left Field Merlot Malbec 2009
Charming, well flavoured, suave red with a dash of panache, some svelte textures and lovely long flavour.

Mission Merlot 2009
A little charmer. Far too easy to drink to be entirely safe. Berryish and just a bit funky feeling.