- Firstly, prepare the sausage. In a bowl, mix the two meats together. Add the salt, paprika, fennel seeds and garlic. Mix well by hand and leave in the fridge to marinate overnight.
- Fill the sausage cases with the mixture and tie with butcher twine every 10cm. If you do not have a sausage maker, lay a long piece of cling film on a work surface or board. Place the sausage mixture on the long edge of the cling film closest to you, forming a sausage shape. Roll the cling film around the sausage, quite firmly, and then roll the sausage along the board away from you until you have used all of the cling film. Keep rolling to secure it, and then tie a knot in the cling film at each end of the sausage. When you are ready to use the sausage, blanch it for a few minutes, then remove the cling film and it is ready to fry (at step 5).
- Drain the cannellini beans and transfer to a pot. Add the vegetables and cover with water. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and let simmer until soft but still firm. Add salt and leave to cool down in the bean water.
- To make the polenta, bring the water and milk to the boil in a saucepan, adding a few pinches of salt, butter and extra virgin olive oil. When it is boiling, stir in the polenta flour. Cook for 8 minutes, take off the heat, and finish with Grana Padano and butter if required.
- Meanwhile, heat a pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and fry the sausages over a medium heat. When well seared, remove the sausages from the pan.
- Using the same pan, add the garlic, rosemary, thyme and the drained beans.
- Cook for a couple of minutes then return the sausages to the pan to finish cooking thoroughly, about 5 minutes.
- To serve, spoon the polenta onto a plate, place the sausage on top, pour over the bean mixture and garnish with flat leaf parsley.
Francesco Mazzei’s Welsh Lamb sausage with polenta and Tuscan cannellini beans
- Prep time 30 mins
- Cook time 25 mins
- Serves 4
Ingredients
For the sausage:
- 1kg PGI Welsh Lamb mince
- 100g pork mince
- 27g fine salt
- 25g sweet paprika
- 5g fennel seeds, lightly crushed
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- Sausage cases
For the polenta:
- 100g polenta Valsugana
- 250ml milk
- 250ml water or vegetable stock
- 50g Grana Padano Riserva
- 20g butter
- 25ml extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch of sea salt
For the beans:
- 200g dry cannellini beans (soaked in cold water overnight)
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 shallot
- 1 small carrot
For later:
- 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 3 sprigs rosemary, chopped (leaves only)
- Few sprigs of thyme, chopped
For the garnish:
- Few sprigs flat leaf parsley