Rick Stein’s bangers and mash recipe is ‘ultimate comfort food’ for cold autumn nights

Renowned chef Rick Stein has shared his ultimate go-to comfort meal of sausages and mash, accompanied with a rich gravy – so having a hearty dinner in less than an hour has never been easier

There’s nothing nicer than tucking into a warm and hearty comfort meal on a cold night – and Rick Stein’s ultimate dish is perfect for those types of evenings.

Sausages and mash is a true British staple food, and legendary chef Rick Stein has shared just how to rustle up the perfect meal for when it’s cold outside and you need warming up.

With meaty sausages, creamy mash and accompanied by a rich red wine and onion gravy, your midweek dinner has never been so comforting. It takes less than 30 minutes to make and serves four, so it’s the perfect family dinner.

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The recipe, according to BBC Food is below:

Ingredients

• 8 Lincolnshire sausages
• vegetable oil, for frying
• 1kg/2lb 4oz floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edward, peeled and cut into chunks
• 50g/1¾oz butter
• 120ml/4fl oz milk or cream
• 8 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the onion gravy

• 40g/1½oz butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 2 tsp plain flour
• 4 bay leaves
• few thyme sprigs
• 325ml/12fl oz red wine
• 450ml/16fl oz beef stock
• good glug of port (optional)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Place a frying pan or griddle over medium-high heat and add a little oil and when hot enough, fry the sausages until cooked thoroughly.
2. To make the mash potato, boil the potatoes in a pan of salted water until tender. Drain well, then pass them through a ricer, mash very well or use a hand-held whisk to break up any lumps. Add the butter and milk or cream, then stir through the spring onions and season with salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.
3. While the potatoes and sausages are cooking, make the gravy. Melt the butter in a pan and add the onion, carrot and celery. Fry until the vegetables are golden and starting to soften, then add the flour and make a roux-like mixture.
4. Add the herbs and cook for a minute before adding the red wine, stock, and port, if using.
5. Keep stirring and bring to the boil to thicken the gravy and reduce and intensify the flavour. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve the sausages on top of the champ and spoon over the gravy. Some steamed greens or peas are good accompaniments.

While many people may want to avoid cream and butter in their mash, Tyler Florence from the Food Network, revealed to Popsugar that the key for the ultimate creamy and tasty mash lies in ditching water and going full tilt with cream and butter instead.

His golden rule is this: “So what I do with mashed potatoes – because you finish them with cream and butter anyway, right? I’ll take that same cream and butter and add that to the potatoes and cook the potatoes in cream and butter.”

But wait, there’s more. After the potatoes have soaked up all that rich goodness, Tyler takes it one step further: “Then I’ll put the potatoes back into the pot and take the potato-infused garlic cream and fold that back into the potatoes, and it’s the most incredible flavour profile.”

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