Yelvertoft farmer's wife shares sizzling summer sausage recipe

Milly lives on a livestock and arable farm in Yelvertoft with her husband and two young boys.

I’ve a real passion for growing food and cooking delicious meals the whole family can enjoy. That’s why I created a food blog and Facebook page called No Fuss Meals for Busy Parents, to share recipe ideas, local ingredient suggestions as well as focus on food producers, providing a connection between the food produced in the UK and how to make quick and easy meals.

Who doesn’t love a good sausage? Those meaty, tasty teatime treats that accompany many dishes; toad in the hole, sausage on the BBQ, sausage, chips and peas, even sausages chopped in with pasta and a few veggies thrown in for good measure.

What more could you want? Now I know this may not appeal to the vegetarian/vegan fraternity, but I’m assured there are many plant-based alternatives, so bear with me and feel free to change around the ingredients to suit preferences.

Having produced my own pork sausages for nearly 10 years, I will only eat my own or those made by our local butcher. Nothing else compares. Why? Because I use all the tasty pieces of meat in my sausages rather than all the trim (skin) and other products used to bulk out sausages.

According to the UK government website, meat products must contain a minimum of 25% fat content and 25% collagen to meat protein ratio. So no wonder some highly processed sausages taste so gritty and watery as up to 50% of the sausage isn’t actually meat. I’m proud to say that my sausages and many other farm shops / butchers include around 95% quality locally produced meat with a touch of flavouring.

Now I’ve had a recently had a dietary conundrum to overcome, discovering that I’m gluten intolerant. And many of the flavourings used to add to sausages have gluten in to help bind the mixture together. So next time I have some pigs ready for the butcher, I’m going to have to rethink my sausage flavourings.

I realise that there is a price point to suit different budgets when it comes to buying food to feed our family. However if you can make one change, then buy better quality sausages. You will really notice the difference. And believe me, when you travel abroad, you really notice the difference. I don’t think there is a country that I’ve visited that can make a sausage that compares to the British banger!

I always get very hungry when writing this column so let’s get on with a recipe using sausages. It’s one of my go-to recipes that the kids enjoy – Cheesy sausage pasta.

You will need:

6 butchers’ sausages (I opt for a sausage with a farmhouse mix)

Pasta of your choice (I tend to use penne or often gnocchi)

Frozen peas

Frozen shredded cabbage

Cream cheese

Grated cheddar to serve

Method

Cook the sausages in the oven at 200c for approx. 30 minutes. You can cook these at any time during the day as you’ll be chopping them up and stirring into the dish later.

Prepare pasta as instructed on the packet. I generally opt for quick cook penne which takes around 7-8 minutes to cook in boiling water.

While the pasta is cooking, take a wok or frying pan and heat a little oil. Chop the sausages into pieces and add to the pan.

Add frozen peas and shredded cabbage and stir around to allow to thaw / cook.

When the dish is almost ready, stir in some cream cheese in with the sausages, peas and cabbage.

Add the drained, cooked pasta to the dish and serve with some grated cheese on top.

You can swap the vegetables around. I often add an onion or use French beans depending on what I’ve got at the time.

This is a quick, no fuss recipe and I hope you can try it out for yourself.

If I’ve inspired you to get cooking or support a local food producer, please do let me know by getting in touch on the No Fuss Meals for Busy Parents page.

You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram @NoFussMealsForBusyParents or the website is: www.nofussmealsforbusyparents.food.blog

I’ve also created a podcast called ‘The Countryside Kitchen meets’ which can be listened to on all the major music streaming sites.