Sausage and Bean Hotpot - Take One

First things first, I was disappointed by this recipe. However, I believe this meal can be saved through modifications, which I will explain at the end.

I copied this recipe either from the Irish Cheap Eats or BBC Good Food. It can be made gluten free.

Bean and Sausage Hotpot

Serves 4

Ingredients

• large sausages (course-cut ones like Toulouse or Cumberland are ideal)
• ¼ quantity tomato sauce (see 'Goes well with')
• 3 x 400g/14oz cans butter beans
• 1 tbsp black treacle or muscovado sugar
• 1 tsp English mustard

In a large casserole, fry the sausages until brown all over - about 10 mins.

Add the tomato sauce, stirring well, then stir in the beans, treacle or sugar and mustard. Bring to the simmer, cover and cook for 30 mins. Great served with crusty bread or rice.

Ok, I obviously have no idea what I was doing when I copied this down. 1/4 quantity tomato sauce? What does that even mean? I eventually just bought a can of tomato puree because I couldn't find tomato sauce.  Lidl and Aldi did not have plain tomato sauce, only pasta sauce. Tesco had every other type of canned tomato product, including plum tomatoes in tomato sauce, but I could not find it. I assumed Toulouse and Cumberland are brand names but I couldn't find them anywhere, so I used Aldi's 8 Irish pork sausages instead.

Here are my modifications:

Bean and Sausage Hotpot

Serves 3

Ingredients

• 8 Irish Pork Sausages
• 1 can tomato puree or tomato sauce
• 3 x 400g/14oz cans butter beans
• 1 tbsp muscovado sugar (sort of like brown sugar)
• 1 tsp English mustard
• 1 tbsp olive oil

In a large casserole, fry the sausages until brown all over - about 10 mins.

Add the tomato sauce, stirring well, then stir in the beans, sugar and mustard. Bring to the simmer, cover and cook for 30 mins. Serve with bread.

To be fair, this was a pretty easy meal to make.

First, I sliced open the sausage and divided each into three sections. I heated the olive oil in a frying pan and browned the sausages.

When the sausages were brown on the bottom, I opened the tomato puree can and the three butter bean cans and tossed them in. Remember, I still don't have measuring tools, so I used a small spoonful of both the sugar and the mustard. English mustard is pretty spicy but the small amount gives the meal a little kick.

My pan doesn't have a top either, so I brought the mixture to a simmer and let it sit for 30 mins. There was enough water in the butter beans cans that it didn't matter if water boiled off.

I spooned out a serving and topped it off with some bread slices.

There was enough for another two servings, which became my lunch for the next two days.

Frankly, this meal did not impress me. I had never tried butter beans before and they were tasteless. I don't know if they were suppose to absorb the flavor but these definitely did not. There were so many of them too! The only things of substance in this dish were the beans and sausages. When one half of the meal was bland, you tend not to think much of it.

On the other hand, these Irish sausages were phenomenal! They were so tasty and delicious that I have to try them again. That is why I will try a heavily modified version of this recipe in the future.

I will use different beans, possibly a mixture of butter beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, what ever is on sale. The problem with the butter beans was that there was no variety in the taste. I will probably use butter beans again, but not as much and combined with other types of beans.

I will also add an onion. I love onions and this meal could use some sort of vegetable. I do think it would go well with a spinach salad, which would give it a helping of veggies.

I wouldn't recommend this recipe as it stands today but I will try again in another month.

8 Irish Sausages: EUR 0.95 at Aldi
English Mustard, 1/40 of a bottle at EUR 0.45/bottle = EUR 0.01 at Lidl
Olive Oil, 1/20 of a 1L bottle at EUR 3.99/bottle = EUR 0.20 at Aldi
Butter Beans, 3 cans at EUR 0.99/can = EUR 2.97 at Tesco
Dark Muscovado Sugar, 1/100 of a bag at EUR 1.65/bag = EUR 0.02 at Tesco
Roma Tomato Puree: EUR 0.69 at Tesco
Total Cost: EUR 4.84 for three servings or EUR 1.61 for one serving