Our butcher (http://www.mansionfarmshop.com) produces wonderful Sausages. They asked me if I could come up with a number of recipes using their speciality sausages. This week’s was a Pork and Leek.  They have a lovely strong “leeky” flavour that made me think of trips to Germany and the comfort food of Winter that the Germans do so well.  One particular dish came to mind called Grünkohl.  It’s a stew-like thick soup of onion, bacon, potato and kale topped with sausage.  In Germany the sausage is usually smoked but we used the Pork and Leek sausage and it worked perfectly. “Lecker, Lecker, Lecker!” as the Germans would say.

Lincolnshire Grünkohl with Pork and Leek Sausage:

Ingredients:

• 6 Mansion Farm Pork and Leek Sausages
• 1 Mansion Farm Smoked Bacon Chop. (diced into 1cm cubes)
• 2 Onions (finely chopped)
• 500g of shredded Kale. Tough stalks removed.
• 600g of potato (diced into 1cm cubes)
• 500ml chicken stock
• 1tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1tsp of smoked paprika
• 2 tsp of mixed herbs
• 1 tsp of English Mustard
• ½ tsp chilli powder (optional – we used Chipotle)
• Salt and Black Pepper
• Ownsworth Rapeseed oil

Method:

1. Heat a little Rapeseed oil in a large saucepan
2. Add Onions, Potato, Bacon and Mustard seeds and gently fry for about 10 mins until the onions have softened and taken on some colour.
3. Add the Shredded Kale, Chicken Stock, Smoked Paprika, Mixed Herbs and a little Black Pepper (no salt at this stage)
4. Bring to the boil, cover and very gently simmer for 2 hours
5. Meanwhile in a frying pan fry the Pork and Leek sausages on a low heat until cooked
6. After 2 hours the Kale and Potatoes should be soft and melting.
7. Add the English Mustard and Chilli Powder (if using) and stir through.
8. Taste and check the seasoning, adding salt and extra pepper if you need.
9. Using a potato masher, give the soupy stew a bit of a gentle mash.  The idea is to break up the potato a little to thicken everything up.
10. Slice the cooked Pork and Leek Sausages on the diagonal into 3 pieces per sausage and add them to the Grünkohl for a couple of minutes to warm through.
11. Serve with some lightly toasted Mansion Farm Sourdough. Guten Appetit!

Tip:

We cooked our Sausages separately and only tucked them into the Grünkohl at the end because we wanted the strong Leek flavour of the Sausage to be the Star.  However you could add the Sausages right at the start and cook them whole with the Kale/Potato and Onions for 2 hours, then, before any Mashing, remove the sausages and slice up before adding back to the Grünkohl just before serving. The result is a milder sausage taste.