“I enjoy cooking like this: gathering a few things together and cooking them simply in a pleasing manner for a table of jolly folk. I acquired a very good sausage during an adventure up north to judge the world’s best marmalade.”
– Jeremy Lee, chef, east London
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
A thick coil of plain Cumberland sausage, around 600g (or 2 sausages per person)
Salad:
1 head of fennel, cut into wedges
½ a small pumpkin, thinly sliced
Olive oil, for frying
A few handfuls of curly kale, leaves stripped from the stalks
A handful of lovely lettuce leaves
A handful or two of spinach
Salt and pepper, to taste
Green sauce:
A small tin of anchovies
A good bunch of parsley
A handful of spinach
1 soup spoon of capers
5 cloves of young garlic (or 2 cloves of regular)
Lots of black pepper
150ml or so of olive oil
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C. Put a drop of olive oil in a pan (big enough to fit the length of sausage) and place on a medium heat. Sear the sausage, get it sizzling and then place in the oven for 20 minutes or so. Check the sausage 10 minutes in. Once it’s a nice crusty brown, flip the sausage and return to the oven.
Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan. Lightly fry the fennel until a good colour develops. Remove the fennel and put to one side. Do the same with pumpkin – until it’s cooked through. Rinse the kale and quickly steam. Assemble all of the vegetables, combine and season.
Place all of the ingredients for the green sauce, except the olive oil, into a food processor. Briefly blend until the ingredients are roughly chopped. Slowly add the olive oil, incorporating as you go – you’re looking for a soft dropping consistency.
Serve the green sauce on the side, or use it to dress the salad.
