This is delicious... one of Nigel Slaters!
A rich and heart-warming meal for a cool night. It needn't be butter beans ? haricot or black-eyed peas will work here, too.
I tend to go for a fairly plain pork sausage ? just a plump, good-quality butcher's banger ? but a slightly garlicky one might work as well.
INGREDIENTS
3 medium-sized onions, peeled
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 large cloves garlic
2 small pinches fennel seed
2 bay leaves
8 thick, nicely seasoned pork sausages
1 x 500ml jar tomato passata
2 Tbsp grain mustard
2 x 400g cans butter beans
METHOD
Peel the onions, cut them in half, then cut each half into 6 or so thick segments. Warm the olive oil in a casserole over a low to moderate heat. Put the onions in the pan and leave them to colour lightly, stirring from time to time so that they don't stick or burn.
While the onions are cooking, peel and finely slice the garlic and add it to the onions with the fennel seeds and the bay leaves. Push the mixture to one side of the pan (if your pan is on the small side, remove the onions and return them later).
Put the sausages into the pan and lightly brown them on all sides. Mix them with the onions (if you removed the onions, return them to the pan now), then pour in the tomato passata, 125ml water and half the mustard. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes, seasoned with salt and coarse black pepper ? I think you should be generous with the pepper.
Drain the beans and add them to the sauce, season with salt and black pepper, and simmer the mixture gently for 20-25 minutes. It is ready when the sausages are fully cooked and much of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the second spoonful of mustard and continue to simmer for a minute or two, remembering that mustard loses its interest if cooked for too long.