* Italian Sausage & Cannellini Bean Casserole

When you keep a record of what you cook, in the form of a blog (or any other form), you slowly begin to realise that you have definite eating habits and penchants for certain foods... The evidence is right there in front of you, so cannot be denied.

Apparently I like beans.

And sausages.

And chocolate.

There's probably a recipe in there somewhere, but I'm not sure I'm the one to discover it.

The original joy at the evenings drawing in and being able to put the salad spinner away in favour of the crock pot - has faded. I'm fed up with it already and long for Summer. Mind you, I think the great British public are all longing for Summer, as we didn't actually get one this year. Or a Spring. Somewhere around April we were being told that we were in the midst of the worst drought in blah-blah years... and someone with a warped sense of humour must have been listening - because it started to rain and I have no memory of it stopping.

So... I decided to cook a casserole that had a taste of Summer in it.

No matter the weather. Only 8 more weeks and I'm going to Egypt.

Hah.

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Serves 3

Prep time - 5 minutes

Cooking time - 30 minutes

You will need

A medium frying pan/skillet with lid

A grill

Ingredients

6 Italian Style Sausages

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion - chopped

1 green pepper - sliced

2 cloves garlic - crushed

400g can chopped tomatoes

200ml passata

400g can cannellini beans - drained and rinsed

2 tbsp sun dried tomato paste/puree

2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Grill the sausages under a medium grill until cooked.

While the sausages are grilling, in the frying pan heat the olive oil and soften the onion, pepper and garlic over a medium heat for about 8 minutes. It helps to pop the lid on.

Add the chopped tomatoes, passata and sun dried tomato paste and bring to a gentle simmer. Pop the lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Cut the cooked sausages in half, at an angle (bias). Add the beans and thyme to the pan and stir through the tomatoes to combine - add the sausages and cook for a further couple of minutes until everything has heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with brown rice or mashed potato.