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Happy Sausage Week! It’s also cat goes missing comes back with mashed up leg week so my stress levels are on the edge this week and hence me only getting this to you at the very back end of such an important foodie week!

A good, well made, sausage is a thing of greatness. From a Sunday morning doorstep sandwich to a mid-week feast- it can lift a meal and a mood.

Just don’t talk to me about crap sausages. You know the ones. 50p for six, indeterminate meat, no seasoning, ooze fatty water when you cook ‘em. But let’s not dwell on those- this week it is all about celebrating the great British banger.

New sausage start-up Grandad’s Sausages asked if I would like to try some of their flavours. Urm, let me think about that for a second. Yes please!

Matthew is one of the nicest guys around. He came to my work to drop off his sausages and told me about the bangers his gramps used to make. When he passed away, Matthew and his business partner decided to take the mantle and see if they could take Grandad’s sausages to the masses.

Overall, I was really impressed. I like my sausage meat with a wee bit more chunky texture but many of the flavours were bob-on. The pork and leek and Lincolnshire shone for me, and my hubby really liked the chilli (I think chilli has no place in a sausage, or in cheese, or in chocolate come to think of it). The pure pork was worth a second try as well.

So what to do with them? I came across this way of cooking lentils in the new River Cottage book and I am addicted! It is way more tasty than mashed potato and the addition of some good herbs and shallots and they are almost a meal on their own.

One pot sausage and lentils

Serves 3 (we totally had it between two!!)

• 7 top quality sausages
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2-3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or crushed
• 150g red lentils
• 500ml chicken stock
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tbsp fresh rosemary, picked
• Oil
• Salt and pepper

You also need a heavy bottomed pan or casserole which you can use on the hob and in the oven.

What you do

• Heat oven to 200c
• Oil your pan and, on a medium heat, brown your sausages on every side
• Take your sausages from the pan and drop in the shallots and garlic and soften on a low heat – approx 5 mins
• Add the lentils, herbs and stock and season with salt and pepper
• Return your sausages to the pen, nestling them in so there aren’t too many lentils under them
• Into the oven for 25 minutes until the sausages are cooked through
• Serve with some greens and a hearty appetite