Tuscan style bangers and mash

So a disclaimer: when I say "tuscan style" this isn't actually a recipe passed to me by a homely Italian woman, or something I enjoyed in a little trattoria in the countryside outside Pisa and have tried to replicate.

When I say Tuscan style what I mean is I cooked something I envisage a homely Italian woman might, if she too had left over sausages from her Sunday fry up, bags of tomatoes left over from her birthday pizza party, limited cooking skills and only enough energy after a Monday at work to do about 3 mins and 42 seconds worth of food prep.

Ingredients

4-6 sausages (I just cook enough for 2 per person, but quantities don't need to be exact)

3 handfuls of tomatoes - varying sizes

1 red onion

2 handfuls of new potatoes (again, a handful per person)

A small handful of fresh herbs - I used a little bit of parsley, oregano and basil

A glug of red wine (the bit mysteriously left in the bottle which is not quite a glass is fine)

A tablespoon of red wine vinegar

Olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

Butter

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Method

1. Set oven for 200 (180 fan) and pour yourself a glass of wine, as your food prep will take nowhere near as long as it takes for an oven to heat up

2. Wash tomatoes, roughly chop them. Toss them in a big roasting dish. Then peel and roughly chop the red onion, add them to dish along with halved garlic cloves. Drizzle in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

3. Place sausages on top, and then add the glug of red wine and tablespoon of red wine vinegar, so that a thin layer of liquid covers the bottom. Place in the oven and cook for 20 mins. Pour yourself another glass of wine.

4. After 20 mins, turn the sausages, and add in most of the handful of herbs, roughly chopped.

At this same time, add halved new potatoes to a pan of boiling water. Boil potatoes for 6 minutes, until slightly soft.

5. Drain water, add a spoon of butter to the hot pan, as well as any remaining herbs. Smash new potatoes with a fork until they are kind of crushed.

6. Serve sausage tomatoes stew over crushed potatoes and tuck in.

If you wanted to make this a little healthier I think it would work pretty well with maybe some kale or spinach chucked in the pot at the same time as the herbs, or you could serve it with lentils, or cauliflower rice or something rather than all the buttery potatoes. Reckon it would also be nice with some crusty sourdough for an easy brunch. Sausages are just so versatile ey.

PS. A recipe for minty white hot chocolate.