Nigella Lawson's 'easy-to-cobble-together' stew that's perfect for winter

Nigella Lawson
-Credit:Newcastle Chronicle


There truly is nothing better than a hearty stew on a cold, dark winter's day. And celebrity cook Nigella Lawson's stew of sausages, beans and peppers is definitely one to try.

Sharing the recipe, she described the dish as "easy-to-cobble-together," adding: "This recipe uses Italian sausages, and I specify them advisedly; being 100% meat and loosely packed, they cook much faster than the densely-woven, finer-textured English sausage. If you are making this with regular sausages, you may want to add a couple of cloves of minced garlic to the sauce.

"Feel free to use whatever canned beans you have in the cupboard; borlotti or cannellini would be just fine, too. Similarly, standard canned tomatoes can replace the cherry tomatoes.

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"Don't be tempted, however, to omit the flame-roasted peppers. Their flavour — the sweetness and smokiness — is essential."

Sausages with beans and peppers by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients:

  • One 15ml tablespoon olive oil

  • 450 grams Italian sausages (six in number)

  • 60 millilitres red vermouth (do use stock, if preferred)

  • Two 400 gram cans butter beans (drained)

  • One 290 gram jar of flame roasted peppers (drained and scissored into bite-sized pieces)

  • One 400 gram can cherry tomatoes in juice

  • Three bay leaves

  • salt (to taste)

  • black pepper (to taste)

Method:

  1. Heat the oil in a shallow, flameproof casserole or heavy-based saucepan that comes with a lid, and brown the sausages, bearing in mind that Italian sausages do not colour hugely.

  2. Take the pan off the heat for a moment, and pour in the red vermouth (or stock), then put it back on the heat and let the vermouth bubble up a bit, before adding the drained beans, the drained, snipped peppers and the can of tomatoes.

  3. Now, take the emptied can of tomatoes and half-fill with water, then throw this in too, before adding the bay leaves, and salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Bring to a bubble, then turn the heat down to low, clamp on a lid and let it simmer for 15 minutes until the sausages are cooked through.

  5. Remove the lid, turn up the heat a bit and simmer robustly for five further minutes until the sauce has thickened slightly.

  6. Now, take off the heat altogether, then — using tongs, for ease — remove the sausages to a chopping board and cut them into thick slices, on a gentle diagonal if you can. You can leave them whole, but they go further sliced. Return the sausage slices to the pan and dish out from there, or ladle the beans into shallow bowls, adding the sliced sausages on top. Either way, serve with hunks of bread for people to dunk as they eat.