Food & Drink

Prep: 15 mins Cook: 1 hour Serves: 4 to 6

A comforting and hearty one-pot sausage casserole recipe with spicy chorizo, smoked paprika and plenty of vegetables, perfect for a lling family meal.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil • 1 onion, nely chopped • 2 medium sticks celery, nely chopped • 1 yellow pepper, chopped • 1 red pepper, chopped • 6 cooking chorizo sausages (about 400g) • 6 pork sausages (about 400g) • 3 fat garlic cloves, chopped • 1 ½ tsp sweet smoked paprika • ½ tsp ground cumin • 1 tbsp dried thyme • 125ml white wine • 2 x 400g cans cherry tomatoes or chopped tomatoes • 2 sprigs fresh thyme • 1 chicken stock cube • 1 x 400g can aduki beans, drained and rinsed • 1 bunch chives, snipped (optional)

Method STEP 1

Heat 2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil in a large heavy-based pan.

STEP 2

Add 1 nely chopped onion and cook gently for 5 minutes.

STEP 3

Add 2 nely chopped medium celery sticks, 1 chopped yellow pepper and 1 chopped red pepper and cook for a further 5 mins.

STEP 4

Add 6 chorizo sausages and 6 pork sausages and fry for 5 minutes.

STEP 5

Stir in 3 chopped garlic cloves, 1 ½ tsp sweet smoked paprika, ½ tsp ground cumin and 1 tbsp dried thyme and continue cooking for 1 – 2 mins or until the aromas are released.

STEP 6

Pour in 125ml white wine and use a wooden spoon to remove any residue stuck to the pan.

STEP 7

Add two 400g cans of tomatoes, and 2 sprigs of fresh thyme and bring to a simmer. Crumble in the chicken stock cube and stir.

STEP 8

Cook for 40 minutes. Stir in a 400g drained

Easy sausage casserole Me Come Dine With and rinsed can of aduki beans and cook for a further ve minutes.

STEP 9

Remove the thyme sprigs, season with black pepper and stir through some snipped chives, if using. Serve.

Easter fudge

Prep: 15 mins Cook: 25 mins Makes: 20 squares

Indulge in a classic homemade fudge, given a twist for Easter. Creamy and packed full of mini chocolate eggs, it’s a perfect sweet treat during the spring.

Ingredients

• 397g can condensed milk • 500g soft light brown sugar • 125g unsalted butter • 150ml whole milk • 150g mini chocolate eggs

Method STEP 1

Line a 20cm square brownie tin with baking parchment. Tip all the ingredients, except the mini chocolate eggs, into a saucepan set over a low heat. Stir gently until all of the sugar has melted. Turn up the heat and simmer for 10-15 mins, scraping the bottom of the pan regularly until the mixture reaches 115C on a sugar thermometer. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer, drop a teaspoon of mixture into a small bowl of cold water – if it’s ready, it will form a soft ball that can be easily attened.

STEP 2

Remove the fudge mixture from the heat and leave to cool for 5 mins. Use a wooden spoon to beat the mixture for another 5 mins.

STEP 3

Roughly chop 100g of the mini chocolate eggs and tip these into the fudge mixture, then stir until evenly combined. Tip the fudge mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the surface and pushing it into the corners using a rubber spatula. Scatter over the remaining mini chocolate eggs, then leave at room temperature until completely rm and set. Turn out onto a chopping board and cut into 20 squares before serving.

The good guide to Viognier

Taste: Complex oral aroma with scents of honeysuckle, orange blossom and primroses is followed by stone fruit avours of apricot and peach, along with spicy and herbal notes.

Body: Full with a silky richness Dry / Sweet: Dry Acidity: Low Age: Drink while young. Other: An interesting alternative to oaked Chardonnay. Tends to be high in alcohol.

Description

Viognier (vee-oh-NYAY) is a high quality grape that was on the verge of extinction in the 1960s in its Northern Rhône home of Condrieu (kondree-uh) in France. Fortunately, this excellent and quite distinctive grape variety was saved and today it is grown in many wine regions across the world.

Because of its full body, silky richness and the fact that it takes well to light oak contact, it has been placed in the Rich style. However, it could equally be included in the Aromatic style due to its characteristic and very pronounced oral perfume. e wine that Viognier makes is dry with high alcohol and low acidity and is at its best when consumed young. e aroma is complex: rich and powerful with the scent of honeysuckle, orange blossom and primroses. On the palate it is lush with a silky richness and displays stone fruit avours of apricot and peach, along with spicy and herbal notes. e best wines are world-class and truly stunning.

Viognier has become very popular in recent years as an interesting alternative to oaked Chardonnay because it is full bodied, but with a much more aromatic quality. is in turn has encouraged many producers to plant Viognier to capitalise on this demand.

However, Viognier is a naturally low yielding grape, is very fussy about where it is grown and can be unpredictable. Consequently, making good Viognier is an expensive business. A cheap Viognier may be a very pleasant wine, but don’t expect it to have great complexity, a heady oral perfume and luscious avours of apricot and peach.

To be at its best Viognier also requires old vines, so over time quality will improve. Having said all of the above, there are many excellent varietal examples made outside of Viognier’s Northern Rhône home. It also plays an important blending role in many white wines of the Southern Rhône and a small proportion is often added to the famous Syrah red wines of the Northern Rhône.

If you have not yet tried Viognier you should seek out a good varietal example: you are in for a treat!