Christmas 2015 - Three pounds of chipolatas
Pound the first
Cook them at 180° for 40 minutes on a baking tray. Give them a little more if you want them ‘overdone’! There will be less chance of sticking if you wipe a teaspoon of oil across the tray for all these recipes.
Pound the second
Snip, cut or karate chop each chipolata into three or four ‘piglets’ and spread on a baking tray.
Mix 3 tablespoons of runny honey, 1 finely chopped red chilli and 1 tablespoon of mirin. Pour onto the sausages.
Cook at 180° for 35 minutes.
Pound the third
Measure each chipolata and use mental arithmetic or a calculator to divide each one into exact thirds. OK, OK… Make the ‘piglets’ as above if you must!
Mix 2 tablespoons of maple syrup, 2 tablespoons of grain mustard and 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce. Pour onto the sausages.
Cook on a baking tray at 180° for 35 minutes.
You now have one pound of chipolatas to accompany the turkey, to be used as sandwich filling or just for casual nomming when the feeling takes you. The other two pounds give a nod to the cocktail sausages which my Mum always made. She also experiments with other flavours these days but, whatever yummy coating, we still call them 'Baby Barkers' after my brother's chosen name for them.
My batches are in the freezer now. There are so many taste sensations on offer through the festivities that it surely doesn't hurt to numb some of them for a while in a very cold place... Especially if it means you are ahead of the game and can talk to family and friends instead of cooking. Defrosted, these come back to life very well wrapped loosely in foil and given a final 10 minutes at medium oven heat.
As you might expect, the delicious Lincolnshire pork sausages came from the wonderful people at Brown's Family Butchers
Cook some before Christmas. You'll need no more than an hour and a half altogether. If you can freeze all of them before 'testing' a few you're much more strong-willed than I am!