Foodie Friday – Sweet cherry tomato and sausage bake
Jamie Oliver is one of my culinary heroes and his Sweet cherry tomato and sausage bake is a recipe that I’ve taken and adapted to become a real favourite. It’s so easy to cook – you just throw everything into one pan and bake away. The result is perfectly cooked sausages, brilliantly roasted tomatoes and very little washing up!
Ingredients
2kg lovely ripe cherry tomatoes, mixed colours if you can find them
2 sprigs each of fresh thyme, rosemary and bay
1 tablespoon dried oregano
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
12 good-quality sausages (Jamie suggests using a italian pork but we’ve used lamb, beef, chicken – all very tasty)
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
I believe the above serves 6 so just alter the quantities to suit
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C
2. Get yourself an appropriately sized roasting tray, large enough to take the tomatoes in one snug-fitting layer. Put in all your tomatoes, the herb sprigs, oregano, garlic and sausages.
3. Drizzle well with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
4. Toss together, then make sure the sausages are on top and pop the tray into the oven for half an hour.
5. After this time, give it a shake and turn the sausages over. Put back into the oven for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how golden and sticky you like your sausages.
6. Once it’s cooked, you’ll have an intense, tomatoey sauce. If it’s a little too thin, lift out the sausages and place the tray on the stove to cook it down to the consistency you like.
7. Check the seasoning and serve either with a good-quality loaf of bread warmed through in a low oven for 10 minutes (great for mopping up the sauce!) or with mashed potato, rice or polenta or a green salad. (We usually have ours sans side dish and it’s very filling)
