From “Favorite Food at Home: Delicious Comfort Food From Ireland’s Most Famous Chef,” by Rachel Allen. Serve with colcannon and applesauce. Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients
Sausages:
1 pound fatty ground pork
2 ounces fresh bread crumbs
1 egg, whisked
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or marjoram
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive or sunflower oil
Colcannon:
3 pounds floury potatoes (such as Russet, scrubbed
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 pound green cabbage, outer leaves removed
2 tablespoons water
1 cup hot milk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Applesauce:
1 large cooking apple (12 ounces) peeled, cored and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon water
2 to 4 tablespoons superfine sugar
Directions
For sausages, mix together pork, bread crumbs, egg, garlic and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Fry a tiny bit of the mixture in a skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil, heated until hot, to see if seasoning is good. Then divide the mixture into 12 pieces and shape each into a sausage. Place on a baking sheet or plate; set aside until cooking them. (Chilling them for a day in the fridge is fine or you can freeze them.)
To make colcannon, cook potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, draining 3/4 of water after 5 to 10 minutes and continuing to cook over a low heat. Avoid stabbing potatoes with a knife to keep from breaking up. When cooked, drain off remaining water, peel and mash with 4 tablespoons butter while hot.
Meanwhile, cook the cabbage. Cut cabbage into quarters, then cut out core. Slice cabbage finely across the grain. Heat a saucepan, add 2 tablespoons butter, water and sliced cabbage. Toss over a medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, until just cooked. Add to potatoes, then add hot milk and parsley, keeping some of milk back in case you do not need it all. Season to taste and beat until creamy and smooth, adding more milk if necessary. Serve piping hot with remaining 2 tablespoons butter melting in the center.
To make applesauce, place apple in a small saucepan with water. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until apple has broken down to a mush. Add sugar to taste.
To cook sausages, heat a frying pan or skillet on low to medium heat. Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and gently fry sausages 12 to 15 minutes, until golden on all sides and cooked through.
Serve all together warm or at room temperature.
