Tuscan Sausages, Haricot Beans in Tomato Sauce

I’m a great fan of baked beans and those soft frankfurter like sausages that come out of a can but you can make your own if you want. Tuscany is a wonderful place for having already created family favourites. This version using Tuscan sausages (or indeed any decent pork sausage) is eaten with haricot beans in a rich garlic and tomato sauce. It seems to be he ideal lunch dish for a wet Summer’s day in my view.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup olive oil plus a Tbsp. for adding to the sauce with sausages later on.
• 6 coarsely ground pork sausages ( Tuscan sausages would be ideal here).
• 6 cloves of garlic – whole
• 10 sage leaves – whole
• 400g (1 can) – fresh, uncooked tomato pulp. You could blanch  tomatoes in boiling water, remove their skins and then pulp but this takes time.
• 3 Tbsp of haricot beans cooked in stock or water.
• salt and black pepper – pinches of each.

Preparation:

1. In a frying pan or skillet, heat a fat glug of olive oil over a medium flame. Add the sausages and fry to brown for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic cloves and sage leaves.
3. Give it all a good stir so the frying oil is infused with herby garlicky flavour.
4. Add the canned tomato pulp or blanched tomato sauce. 
5. Increase the heat to maximum 
6. Add the cooked haricot beans in their stock.  Add some more olive oil – about 1 Tbsp, add a pinch of salt. 
7. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes until the beans have cooked through with the sauce. 
8. Serve up hot with about 1 or 2 sausages each and plenty of beans in tomato sauce. Season with black pepper.