Foodie Lass Cooking with Sausages by Max Halley. Delicious Things to make with everything from Chipolatas to Chorizo.
‘The humble sausage’; Cooking with Sausages by Max Halley dispels this idea. This cookery book is full of delicious recipes from simple and quick meals, sharing with friends, lunch and even a few drink offerings
Cooking with Sausages is wonderfully illustrated with bright colours and funny captions. Max Halley’s recipes are written in a very relaxed style – sausages in various varieties are fun to cook with and taste delicious.
This book is cleverly divided into two chapters: the first chapter explains how sausages are good as they are either whole or sliced, the second chapter explains how sausages are freed from their skins, or ‘unwrapped.’ Learn this technique from the book and you will be pleasantly surprised how many new sausage recipes you can create.
I enjoyed the section on ‘Meet the Sausages,’ a fairly comprehensive list of various sausages and their origins. Here are a few you may not know –
Calabrian: Italian, nice and spicy
Cotechino: Italian, firm yet wobbly
Merguez: Made with lamb (sometimes beef). Great on the BBQ.
Chorizo – Spanish (and Portuguese, Mexican and from parts of Central and South America)
Only fresh is used in this book.
And just to tempt you even more here is a delicious recipe taken from the book.
Chorizo, Squid, and Peas with Bread and Butter and Lemon
Serves 4
This is one of my favourite suppers, and a lovely meeting of Spain and Italy. When my sister and I were little, our mum and dad often made Marcella Hazan’s stewed squid with tomatoes and peas and this is that, with chorizo in it, because I once had some lying about and now always put it in. Lemon juice on bread and butter is one of the greatest kitchen snacks (and meal accompaniments) known to humanity. If the butter is soft, which it should be, I squeeze the lemon on the bread, then butter it.
900g (2lb) cleaned whole squid (little or large), defrosted if frozen
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 small onion, about 100g (3 ½ oz), finely chopped
1 tsp fine sea salt
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, stalks and all, plus extra to serve
200g (7oz) tinned peeled plum tomatoes with their juices (splash out on some San Marzano if you can), crushed with your hands
300g (10oz) mild/sweet cooking chorizo, cut into 1cm (½ in) thick slices
300g (10oz) frozen petits pois (petite peas), defrosted
juice of ½ lemon
freshly ground black pepper
To serve
8 slices of nice bread
1 lemon, cut lengthways into quarters and seeds removed
enough softened salted butter for everyone
Pull the tentacle bunches out of the cleaned squids, trim off
anything above the tentacles, then cut the tentacle bunches
in half. Pull the ‘wings’ off the squids’ bodies if they’re there
and reserve them. Cut the tubular bodies into 2cm (¾ in)
thick rings and pop them and the tentacles and wings in
a colander in the sink while you prep everything else.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over
a medium-low heat and fry the onion with the salt for
15 minutes until softened and lightly golden. Add the garlic
and parsley and cook for 10 minutes, making sure nothing
starts to brown too much. We want soft, not caramelized,
chef! Add the tomatoes and their juices and cook for a
further 10 minutes.
Next, add the squid and chorizo, stir well, cover, and cook
for at least 1 hour, maybe 1 ½ hours, until the squid is made
tender – you just have to be patient.
Once the squid is cooked, add the peas, stir, cover again,
and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and plenty of
freshly ground black pepper.
Serve in big bowls with an extra drizzle of olive oil, a
little sprinkle of parsley, and loads of bread and butter
with lemon.
The above recipe is so simple but with high-quality ingredients, plus a nice idea to serve delicious bread to mop up the juices.
Looking for more delicious recipe ideas?
Add Cooking with Sausages to your summer cookbook list and enjoy 60 new recipes to try out.
Cooking with Sausages by Max Halley (DK, £16.99)
Photography by Ellis Parrinder is available from all the usual book outlets.
Q: Who wrote Cooking with Sausages?
A: Cooking with Sausages was written by chef and food writer Max Halley.
Q: What recipes are included in Cooking with Sausages?
A: The cookbook includes sausage recipes for quick meals, sharing dishes, BBQ food, lunches, and creative recipes using sausages removed from their skins.
Q: Is Cooking with Sausages suitable for beginner cooks?
A: Yes, the relaxed writing style and straightforward recipes make it suitable for both beginner and experienced home cooks.
Q: What types of sausages are featured in the book?
A: The book covers many sausage varieties including chorizo, merguez, Calabrian sausage, and cotechino.
Q: Who published Cooking with Sausages?
A: The book was published by DK.
