Bloody Mary Sausages

I've read a lot recently about how we're copying America in celebrating Hallowe'en and I couldn't understand what everyone was talking about as we always had parties as children. Of course I grew up with an Irish mammy and in Ireland Hallowe'en is the autumn festival for many reasons, not least that Guy Fawkes night isn't celebrated (funny that!). I was thinking about the foods that we ate at this time of year and remembering lots of sausages and lots of home-made tomato soup. I'm not a tomato soup fan at the best of times, and certainly not when I already have a sore throat so I've made up this recipe.

* 1 packet of good quality sausages (this would work with quorn or other veggie sausages too)
* 4 medium red onions
* 1 cup of puy lentils
* 2 tins of plum tomatoes
* 1 glass of vodka
* olive oil
* 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
* 2 cloves of garlic
* spices of your choice- I used two teaspoons of ground chilli flakes and a generous dash of tabasco.


Put the sausages in a heavy based pan or casserole and brown in the olive oil. Peel and quarter the onions, break them apart and throw them in too. Bash the garlic cloves and add- no need to peel, just look for them when you serve and remove. Cook until the sausages are a nice colour and the onions are translucent. Add the lentils and any spices and stir. Put in the tins of tomato, this will seem like a massive amount of liquid but you'll be cooking it down. Add the sugar and season.
I cooked this on a low heat on top of the cooker for 45 minutes until the tomatoes were reduced down to a sticky sauce, but you could cook in a moderate oven with the lid off.
About fifteen minutes before serving I added the vodka and turned the heat up enough to cook off the alcohol but leave a richness behind but you could easily leave this step out.

The lentils mean this doesn't need an extra carb serving but it would be lovely with mash and a favourite green veg for colour.