We’ve just returned from a few days in Provence where they have near constant sunshine in which to bask and also to grow sunflowers, lavender, olives by the field load. The Great British Summer in contrast is a fickle thing. Slightly disappointing, but not entirely surprising then, to come home to find the only species flourishing in the vegetable bed were a small posse of damp-loving funghi.
This one-pot bake is a perfectly suited to the trials and tribulations of a classic British summer. The flavours are sunny and Mediterranean (lemon, oregano, tomato, olive oil) but the finished dish is also suitably warm and cozy for an evening inside watching the rain. It is a “one-pot” supper in the nutritional sense too, combining summer vegetables (fennel, cherry tomatoes, onions), high protein, high fibre dried beans, monounsaturated olive oil and a wholegrain breadcrumb topping. One serving provides at least 3 of your five serves of fruit and vegetable per day with minimal effort.
Veggie sausages are typically lower in fat and more environmentally sustainable to produce than the meaty sort. For a dish like this where the sausages are a bit player rather than the true star of the show, I tend to use veggie sausages (for the aforementioned reasons). The recipe as it stands produces a dry style of dish with a crispy top; if you fancy something a little more cassoulet in style then just add a slosh of stock or white wine to the pan before topping with the breadcrumb.
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Recipe for Mediterranean sausage, fennel, canellini bean and tomato gratin
If you have one, use a casserole that can go straight from hob to oven.
Serves two very hungry people, or four as a light lunch
4 herby, veggie sausages, thickly sliced
1 fennel bulb, sliced
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400g can canellini beans, drained
1 tbsp olive oil
1 heaped tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
Salt and pepper
For the breadcrumb topping
1 slice bread, crumbed (I use wholegrain granary)
1 tbsp olive oil
Zest of one lemon
Preheat the oven to 180 C, 350 F.
Saute the sausages in a tablespoon of olive oil until lightly browned. Lift the sausage slices from the pan and put to one side. Add the fennel, onion and garlic to the pan and cook on a medium heat for another five minutes.
Add the sausages back into the pan with the fennel, onion and garlic. Next add the canellini beans, tomatoes and oregano and stir. Season with plenty of pepper and a little salt.
Lightly flatten the contents of the pan with the back of a spatula.
In a separate bowl, mix the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest, olive oil and some more black pepper.
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the sausage/bean mixture and bake for 30 minutes.
Sophie Clarke is a registered dietitian based in Oxford, UK. She works with individuals and companies to promote healthy lifestyles and good nutrition.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
sounds delicious and great to see recipes using vegetarian sausages because I substitute them for meat ones quite a bit but find they are different in that they are not as fatty so don’t give out so much oil when they cook.
I’d like to try this as it looks like a simpler version of my cassoulet recipe which is one of the few recipes I’ve really loved fennel in
Just lovely.. I still wonder how veg sausages taste like. I should really check this out after reading your post.
Love the recipe Sophie. Good veggie sausages are quite hard to find here. Fennel is a winter crop over here, in peak season at the moment – so it’s a good one for us to be cooking as well.
This sounds totally heart warming and tummy warming! I love the combination of sausage and fennel…
We eat varying versions of this in the winter. Love the fennel idea though. Haven’t tried that before.
Gotta say, I’ve never had a decent veggie sausage! They always just taste like rubbery-faux-meat. Recommendations?
That looks lovely with the herby flavours and the beans. I have trouble finding veggie sausages that are also gluten free, but they’d certainly add flavour so it would be sad to leave them out. I’ll have to see what I can find.
Hopefully you were having a nice time in Provence!
I love everything with canellini beans and if I manage to find veggie sausages (sounds yummy!), I’ll be making this hearty cassoulet pretty soon!
Lovely recipe, Sophie. You are so good with your one-pot creations.
We are in the middle of a heat wave (30 plus degrees Celsius) in my part of the world so I’ll reserve this for a cooler day, which will be welcome when it comes. By then, my cherry tomatoes should be ripe, too.
Provence sounds heavenly. Lavender, sunflowers and olivers by the field-load — must have been quite the sight. Were you constantly taking photos?
Johanna – you’re right of course, veggies sausages just don’t give out the same amount of fat. Which works out fine for this recipe but sometimes you want the oil. I’ve been looking for a decent veggie cassoulet recipe – is yours on your blog?
Anh – veggie sausages are really variable (as you’ll guess from the later comments). Definitely try a few brands and see which you like best.
Kathryn – I’ll have to ask my sister-in-law who lives in Oz if she has any veggie sausage recommendation as I know she buys such things. Funny that fennel is a winter crop with you and summer/autumn over here. It must like the warmth, but not too much of it
Joey – thank you :-) The sausage and fennel are really good together
Wendy – the best veggie sausage I have found in UK are Cauldron’s Lincolnshire sausages. They’re really well seasoned, and not too rubbery. Definitely passable in recipes, butties and the like, but not quite the same as a good butchers sausage for eating unadorned.
Arwen – I bet veggie and gluten free sausages are a tricky one to find. Maybe you could try a different entirely flavour entirely, maybe some feta cheese and/or olives
Maya – Provence was beautiful! If you’re a meat eater then do feel free to use meat sausages – they work just as well
Elaine – I hope you’re enjoying your heatwave. It sounds wonderful (if you could send some over here to ripen my cherry tomatoes that would be fabulous). Would you believe it – I didn’t take my dSLR to Provence! The trip was for my other half to cycle a stage of the Tour de France. I had to pack light as we had a multi-stage journey with lots of bike kit to take. I did regret the decision when I first saw those sunflower fields from the TGV, but in the end we didn’t have much time for pottering about taking photos.
What a delightful & fabulous yummie dish!!
I so love flavours like these,…
Found this post via Elaine – made it for dinner last night. Absolutely delicious! Thanks so much for this great recipe, I’ll be making it over and over!
Made this dish last night. It was fantastic. Light, fresh and full of flavor. My husband, who is a bit wary of one-dish meals, loved it. This recipe is going into regular rotation. I served it with some lightly dressed baby greens, crusty olive bread and a nice zin. Perfect for a summer evening.
What a beautiful combination of good foods.
That looks like the kinda meal I would enjoy on a Saturday might, watching my favorite movie!!!
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
This is soooo yummy – thank you.
This is just sooooo good. My husband cleans up and there is no leftovers…so flavourful..even the dog begs for a bit of sausage!!