Sausage & Bean Stew

For the past number of years, to my absolute delight, we’ve successfully grown deliciously, sweet tomatoes in our tunnel. They are never nicer than when simply sprinkled with a little sea salt, but when I’m faced with a glut of them I tend to use the tomatoes in recipes where I would normally use the tinned variety. A sausage and bean stew is so easy to throw together, on a busy evening, and the results are always so tasty. As much as I’m a fan of bringing a dinner together from whatever is in the press, using fresh tomatoes in this recipe really turns it into something special. This tasty stew pairs perfectly with pasta, but when serving on a warm summer’s evening, I like to serve it with a simple salad and lots of crusty bread.

Sausage & Bean Stew 
Serves 4 

Ingredients 
454g good quality sausages 
1 tin cannelloni beans 
650g cherry tomatoes or 2 tins of cherry tomatoes 
1 onion, roughly diced 
1 yellow pepper, cut into strips 
4 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped 
1tsp smoked paprika 
1tsp sugar 
1tbsp balsamic vinegar 
1 tbsp olive oil 
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper 

To serve 
Crusty bread 
Green salad

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°c/gas 6. 
2. To a large roasting tin, add the sausages, beans, tomatoes, onion, pepper and garlic. Sprinkle over the smoked paprika and the sugar. Drizzle over the balsamic vinegar and olive oil and season with a little salt and a few twists of black pepper. 
3. Combine all the ingredients well and position the sausages on top of the tomato mix.
4. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 25 minutes. After this time take out the tray and give the contents a good mix, squashing a few of the cherry tomatoes. Place back into the oven for a further 15 minutes. 
5. Take from the oven and serve straight away with a green salad and some crusty bread.