Recipes: Pig out

I find myself referring almost weekly to comfort food, possibly due to the ongoing economic gloom that surrounds us. Whatever the reason, when comfort food is what we need, what could be better than a good sausage? As with everything we eat, tastes differ. There are those who love venison sausages or beef ones, but for me, it must be pork – and there are many fine examples to be found all around Scotland.

I am full of praise for Jamie Oliver, who has highlighted the plight of our pig farmers – those who have managed to stay the course. For years I have been talking of the unfair deal British pig farmers endured when it came to feed – their mainland European counterparts had several years' grace before they were required to move in line with the UK's much stricter regulations. Our product has been vastly superior to the pig meat from many mainland European countries, and still is.

OATMEAL SAUSAGES WITH SESAME AND GINGER DIPPING SAUCE

I allow two or three sausages per person, depending on who I am feeding and what I'm serving with the dish. Any leftovers are delicious eaten up cold.

SERVES 6

18 pork sausages
8oz/225g pinhead oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the sauce:

1/2 pint/285ml oil – I use olive oil, but you could use sunflower or grapeseed if you prefer
2in/5cm piece of root ginger, skin pared off and the ginger diced finely
1 fat clove of garlic, skinned and diced finely
2 tablespoons sunflower seed oil
3oz/85g sunflower seeds, dry-fried to toast them to a pale biscuit colour
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
15 grinds of black pepper (no need for salt – the soy sauce is salty enough)

Start by making the sauce – heat half the olive oil in a small saucepan and fry the diced ginger and garlic over a moderate heat for two minutes. Add the rest of the olive oil and the sunflower seed oil, the toasted sunflower seeds, soy sauce and black pepper to the contents of the saucepan, mix well, then tip into a bowl to serve, cold, with the cooked sausages.

To prepare and cook the sausages, use the point of a sharp knife to slit down the skin of each sausage and peel the skin away – this takes only seconds to do.

On a plate, mix together the pin-head oatmeal and salt. Press each de-skinned sausage into the oatmeal, rolling it well to coat it all over. Place the sausages on a non-stick baking tray or in a roasting tin and roast in a hot oven, 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6, for 15 minutes, before turning them over and roasting them for a further 15-20 minutes.

There is no need to add any oil to the sausages before they roast – they contain a certain amount of fat, which will escape as they cook. The oatmeal roasts to a brown, crunchy exterior.

Serve with the dipping sauce, either in one shared serving bowl or in individual ramekins.

PIGS IN BLANKETS

These are a variation on a sausage roll. I had them for breakfast one morning while staying at a B&B in Culloden, Georgia, when we were there for their local Highland Games. Made with chipolatas, pigs (piglets?) in blankets make excellent food to serve with drinks. You can use shortcrust or puff pastry, whichever you prefer. I spread the squares of pastry with the mustard and honey mixture, which enhances the flavour.

SERVES 6 AS A MAIN COURSE

2 x 375g packets of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry (you can use puff pastry, if you prefer)
1 tablespoon grain mustard
2 teaspoons thick honey – dip the spoon in near-boiling water for a few seconds before spooning and the honey will slip easily from the spoon
12 pork sausages
beaten egg, to brush the pastry

Cut the pastry into squares, each smaller than the length of the sausages by about 1in/2.5cm.

Mix together the grain mustard and honey, and put a good dab in the centre of each pastry square. Put one sausage diagonally on to each square. Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg, then take the opposite corners of the square to where the sausage is lying – to its left and right, as it were – and bring them together to fold over the sausage. Each end of the sausage is thus left uncovered.

Put the blankets side by side on a non-stick baking tray and brush each with beaten egg. Bake in a moderate oven, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is deep golden brown and the sausages look light brown. Serve hot or warm. They are very good accompanied by a tart jelly, such as rowan, blackcurrant or redcurrant.

PORK SAUSAGEMEAT AND APPLE PIE WITH CELERIAC AND POTATO MASH

This is one of our all-time favourites.

SERVES 6

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 onions, skinned and diced finely
1-2 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and diced finely
2lb/900g pork sausages, each slit with a sharp knife and the skins removed
1 level tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
1 pint/570ml stock – or a good substitute such as Marigold powder made up with boiling water
2 good eating apples, each peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
about 20 grinds of black pepper

For the top:

1lb/450g each, peeled potatoes and celeriac (weigh when peeled)
2oz/55g butter
1/2 pint/285ml milk
salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Heat the olive oil in a wide sauté pan and fry the diced onions over a moderately high heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring from time to time. They should be completely transparent and turning golden brown at their edges. Add the diced garlic and cook for a further minute. Scoop the contents of the sauté pan into a warm bowl, leaving behind as much oil as possible.

Raise the heat under the pan and brown the skinned sausages, mashing them out of their sausage shape with a wooden spoon. Brown as best you can, then return the onions and garlic to the sausagemeat and mix well. Next, add the flour to the pan and stir it in. Finally, add the tomato purée, Worcester sauce and stock, and stir until the mixture bubbles.

Add the chopped apples, salt and pepper and simmer very gently, pan uncovered, for 20 minutes. Scoop the contents of the sauté pan into an ovenproof dish, smooth evenly and allow to cool.

Boil the potatoes and celeriac together in lightly salted water until when you stick a knife into a piece of celeriac it feels soft. Drain, steam dry, then mash very well. Switch to a wooden spoon and beat.

Melt together the butter and milk, and beat this into the potatoes and celeriac. Season with salt, pepper and grated nutmeg, then spoon this on top of the cold sausage and apple mixture. Smooth the top with a fork, then bake the dish in a moderate oven, 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4, until the forked pattern on the surface turns a light golden brown and the sausagemeat mixture bubbles around the edges – this takes about 35-40 minutes from room temperature.

You can make the pie a day in advance, but be sure to bring it to room temperature half an hour before reheating it. I love a green vegetable with this, such as cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli or Brussels sprouts.

Sausages can be baked, barbecued, grilled or even poached – much healthier than frying them.