Mustard & Lemon Sausages

The fact that I got hold of this recipe is entirely down to the power of Twitter.

There I was, quietly reading everyone's input to my timeline, when up came a comment from the lovely @madamding about how she was intending on having a Nigel Slater recipe that evening, for "Mustard & Lemon Sausages".  Well, that intrigued me as I'm always in the market for a new sausage recipe.

Very graciously, she provided me with a link to where the original recipe was to be found so that I could decide whether to give it a go.  Having read through the incredibly simple ingredients list and method, it became one of those "just has to be done" recipes.  This is mainly because I have a quite similar and delicious recipe for Gammon steaks, which involves Whole Grain Mustard and Orange zest and juice.  (Which can be found here).  This recipe involves the same Whole Grain Mustard, but with honey, Dijon mustard and lemon juice.

Regrettably, because of personal commitments, Mrs M (@madamding) couldn't do the recipe when she was intending to, so I'm hoping very much that I've not beaten her to it where blogging it is concerned!

Anyway, fingers crossed and here goes.  "Mustard and Lemon Sausages" is a wonderful dish on all sorts of levels.  The sauce/glaze begins life being incredibly acidic, but undergoes some magical transformation as the sausages cook and the mixture reduces.  Out goes the acidity and in comes a lovely soft richness, with a rounded sweetness that isn't too much.  It may sound a tiny bit odd, but I found the sauce/glaze goes extremely well with mashed potato - so a forkful that comprised of a piece of sausage, a dollop of mashed potato and a swoop of sauce is just delightful.

However, one of its very great attractions is that it will be able to join my battalion of "quick and easy" dishes, which as a disabled cook, are always good to have up your sleeve for those not-so-good days.

Needless to say, I've tweaked the recipe a tiny bit.  However, it's just the quantities of the mustard that I've changed, in order to render it a bit more affordable when you've just spent an arm and a leg on two jars of (fairly) expensive Maille mustards, instead of your usual fare of Supermarket own brand and the quantity of honey, with a view towards the mildly diabetic in the family!

Oh yes, and I'd recommend using just a plain pork sausage, as I think you'd find some of the fancier flavours would clash.

MUSTARD & LEMON SAUSAGES  (Original recipe by Nigel Slater : feeds 3)

Ingredients

 
8 plump pork sausages
2 heaped tsp grain mustard
1 heaped tsp smooth Dijon mustard
3 heaped tsp runny honey1 lemon, juiced

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven at 200C/400F/Gas 6.

2. Put the sausages in a roasting tin large enough to take them in a single layer. If they overlap, they won’t cook properly.

3. In a bowl mix the mustards, honey and lemon juice. Stir well and pour over all the sausages.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rolling the sausages over in the honey and mustard mixture once or twice during cooking, so that they eventually take on a sticky, glossy coat.

Serve with mashed potato, sugar snap peas and carrots.

.