Sausages and squash with sage, rosemary and beans

This is a good lunch to cook outside later on in the autumn, when the leaves begin to fall and the weather’s getting colder. It might be something you prepare after a day of tidying up and cutting back in the garden. In fact, if you’re having a bonfire, it would be nice to let this cook away in the embers while you’re working. If you wanted to leave out the sausages, you could – sometimes I add dried mushrooms instead, they have so much flavour.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5–6 large organic pork sausages
1 large or 2 smaller onions, halved and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ butternut squash (about 400g/14oz)
12–14 sage leaves, roughly torn
2 rosemary sprigs, roughly torn
250g (9oz) dried haricot beans, soaked and cooked
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Set a large, heavy-based casserole pan over a hot part of the fire. Add half the extra-virgin olive oil and when it’s hot, add the sausages. Fry them, turning regularly, so they brown evenly on all sides. Don’t let the pan get too hot or you’ll burn the sausages. When they look lovely and golden, lift them out of the pan and set them to one side.

Add the onions and garlic to the pan and stir them. Allow them to soften – there’s no harm in letting them develop some colour around their edges.

Meanwhile, deseed the squash and cut up the flesh into bitesize pieces (you really don’t need to peel it). Add the pieces to the onions along with half the sage and rosemary. Cook the vegetables until the squash is starting to soften at the corners, then stir in the cooked beans and pour over enough water to cover. Bring everything up to a simmer and cook, stirring regularly, so it’s all cooking evenly, for 15–20 minutes, by which time the squash should be nice and tender. You’ll need to keep your eye on the fire – you want to keep the heat ticking over.

Cut up the sausages into chunky pieces and add these back to the pan, along with plenty of salt and pepper. Cook for a further 3–4 minutes, or until the sausages are cooked through. Roughly chop the remaining herbs. Scatter these
over the top and trickle over the remaining extra-virgin olive oil. Allow everything to cool for 5–10 minutes before serving.