Veggie sausage and red wine casserole

This is one of our favourite dishes and is an original creation of Mr Vegan Man.  It is designed to be a vegetarian or vegan dish (depending on the brand of sausages you use - more on that later), but if you can't stand the idea of eating 'fake' sausages then you can also make it with the meat variety too.  A lot of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks and recipes shy away from using meat substitutes - tofu or halloumi are often play the role of 'meat' if a big lump or chunks of protein are needed - and whilst there are numerous dishes that can be prepared using only vegetables, pulses and grains, there are also occasions where meat substitutes really do come into their own.  We think this is one of them.

The reason we love this recipe is that it is rich, hearty and warming - it feels quite decadent (it does contain half a bottle of red wine!) and comforting, even unctuous, in a way that vegetarian and vegan dishes aren't always.  Mr Vegan Man has cooked the casserole for quite a few people - vegetarians and meat-eaters alike - and they have all loved it.  It's also incredibly simple to make and is a one-pot meal so nice and easy for those weekday nights when you don't want loads of washing up.

It's up to you which sausages you want to use for the recipe.  For vegans the obvious choice is Linda McCartney sausages, which are widely available and suitable for vegans.  They have quite a realistic sausage texture and are very tasty and they work well when used in this recipe.  Only use the regular sausages though, not the red onion and rosemary ones; we tried using them once and their texture made them too sponge-like and they soaked up too much liquid and became water-logged, giving them a rather unpleasant texture.  Quorn sausages work well in this too (although Quorn doesn't agree with Wife of the Vegan Man) and we used Cauldron sausages in the pictures and they were very good indeed - note, though, that these options are vegetarian but not vegan.  Most supermarkets also do a decent own-brand veggie banger too, and it's worth checking the ingredients on these as some supermarkets' vegetarian produce turns out to be vegan-friendly too.

When choosing a wine, go with something you could happily drink but don't break the bank.  There are loads of very good wines available for around the £7 mark and you will still have half a bottle left to enjoy so make sure you pick one you like.  We've used Rioja, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon and all have worked well.  You want something fairly full-bodied as there are some big flavours in the dish that it will need to be able to stand up to.

Ingredients (Serves 3-4):

6 veggie/vegan sausages (or meaty ones)
2 large cloves  of garlic
1 small white onion
400g can chickpeas
400g can chopped tomatoes (or 400g of passata, which works just as well)
350ml red wine
125g pitted green olives
3tsp smoked paprika
1tsp ground cumin
1.5tsp dried basil
1.5tsp dried oregano
0.5 tsp sugar
1tbsp olive oil

Handful of fresh chopped parsley to garnish (optional)

Preparation and cooking time:  under 45 minutes

In a large crock pot (a large saucepan is fine if you don't have a crock pot) heat half the oil on a medium to high heat.  When the oil is hot add the sausages to the pan and brown them off, turning every couple of minutes.  You want to get them quite a dark golden brown as this helps them to keep their shape and texture once cut up and added to the casserole, it also adds a bit of flavour.  Whilst your sausages are cooking, finely chop the onion and garlic.  We like to crush the garlic down with fine salt and the back of a chef's knife but finely chopped is fine too.

Once the sausages are cooked, remove them from the pan and place them on two sheets of kitchen towel to absorb some of the excess oil.  Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and reduce to a medium heat.  Add the onions and cook them until they have softened, you don't really want them to brown so keep an eye on the heat and reduce the heat and remove the pan to cool briefly if need be.  Add the garlic once the onions are close to cooked and allow this to soften, again you don't want it to brown so it will only need a minute or two to soften.  Add in the smoked paprika and cumin and stir continuously for a couple of minutes to take the rawness off the spices but without them catching and becoming bitter.  Then add in your red wine and turn the heat back up to a medium high heat.

While the wine is reducing and the alcohol is cooking off, chop your sausages into four or five chunks per sausage (as pictured).  Add the dried basil and oregano to the wine and a little salt and pepper to taste.  Leave the wine to reduce to roughly half of its original volume, on a high heat this will only take 5 minutes or so.  It should then look something like this:

Add the chopped tomatoes and leave on a medium to high heat for 5-10 minutes to reduce the tomatoes down slightly, stirring occasionally.  This helps to break down the chunks of tomato as well as taking the edge off the acidity.  Reduce the heat and add the sugar, chick peas (drained and rinsed), olives and sausage chunks.  Cover and leave to cook on a low heat for a further 20 minutes.

Remove the lid and garnish with a good handful of chopped flat leaf parsley, although don't worry if you don't have it as it's not essential to the dish, it just adds a bit of colour and freshness.  We usually have this with creamy mashed potato but it can equally be served with a hunk of fresh bread or with soft polenta as an alternative to mash.  You could also have some steamed sprouting broccoli or other green veg with it too if you fancy.

If you have any questions or comments about this or any of our other recipes then please drop us an email or add a comment.  We'd love to know how you get on!