Sausage and bean hotpot

Based on my mum’s recipe, which my brother and I loved when we were kids, this is a real winter warmer. Sweet potato makes it a richer flavour, but if you're not keen, it also works well with potatoes or carrots.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 onion
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper
1 sweet potato
Tin of red kidney or aduki beans
Tin of baked beans
4 sausages
500g passata
Tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 vegetable stock cube
1 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1-2 tsp ground coriander

Method

1. Select a large, deep crock pot or casserole dish, suitable for cooking both on the hob and in the oven.
2. Chop the onion finely and sauté in the oil over a moderate heat. Add oregano and stir well.
3. Chop red pepper and add to the pot after 5 mins
4. Chop sweet potato into approx 1cm cubes and add to pot after another 5 mins
5. After 5 more minutes, add finely chopped garlic and coriander.Stir thoroughly and cook for a couple of minutes.
6. Chop sausages into 1cm slices and add to the pan.
7. Drain red kidney beans and add. Add baked beans.
8. Add passata plus tomatoes, then add the same volume of hot water, with a stock cube dissolved in it.
9. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 mins. While simmering, pre-heat oven to gas mark 6 / 200°C.
10. Place pot in the oven and cover with an ovenproof lid (I use a pizza tin). Cook for 45 mins, stirring every 10-15 mins, until sweet potato is soft and crushes easily. Remove the lid for the last 10 mins or so.
11. Serve in soup bowls with granary bread.

Tips

• Finding the right sausages is important - you need them to be quite dense, so that they don’t disintegrate. I use Quorn frankfurters, which are perfect.