The squire’s supper

This recipe was given to me with my cast iron lidded-frypan, which is ideal for cooking it in. It can be used on top of the cooker and under the grill and saves me having to move it from pot to pot… although if you don’t have a cast iron lidded-frypan, the extra effort would be worth it.

Ingredients:

• 500g potatoes – waxy are good but Agria are wonderful if you are careful
• 1.5kg large onions – peeled and medium sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic – peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 700g of really good pork sausagemeat
• 1 tsp chopped fresh sage
• 1tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Cheese to sprinkle on top (optional)

Method:

1. Peel and slice the potatoes quite thickly and put in a bowl of cold water.
2. Heat the oil in a pan over a low heat, add the onions and cook until they just begin to colour, stirring frequently.
3. Thoroughly dry the potato slices and mix them with the onions; season with salt, cover and allow them to cook until they start to render their juice.
4. Meanwhile, mix the chopped herbs with the sausagemeat and a seasoning of pepper and shape into 4cm balls.
5. Bury the sausagemeat in the onion/potato mix and season generously with pepper; cover the pan and continue to cook gently, stirring now and then and taking care not to break the potato slices.
6. When the potatoes are nearly done, remove the lid to allow the moisture to evaporate and continue until they are cooked.
7. Turn into a gratin dish or leave it in the pan in which it has been cooking and place under a hot grill until it is golden and crusty.

It really needs nothing else but could be served with a salad and certainly a big red wine, cider or beer.