Prep time:

Cooking time: 3 hours 20 minutes

Total time:

Serves: 4

0.75tbsp Rapeseed oil

3 Cloves of Garlic

6 Pork or Beef Sausages from a good butcher

400g Smoked Bacon

Dried Cannellini Beans (soaked overnight)

300g Carrots, or any root vegetables

2 Medium Onions, peeled and diced

A few sprigs of Fresh Sage

2 Bay Leaves

Salt and Pepper to taste

For the Sauce:

2tbsp Tomato Puree

2 Vegetable Stock Cubes

850ml Hot Water

For the topping:

150g Breadcrumbs

Nicci’s catering company, Home Gurr’own, is situated on a family-run smallholding in Cranbrook where Nicci and her husband Julian grow and rear the vast proportion of seasonal produce and meat used to create their special wedding and event menus. To find out more, and for information on the Farmers Markets that Home Gurr’own attends, visit www.homegurrown.co.uk or call 07747 816541

  1. First soak the beans overnight, then rinse and drain.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350°F, Gas Mark 4). Heat the oil over a medium heat and add the garlic, and fry the bacon, then sausages, for about 5 minutes. When brown remove into a dish.
  3. With the oil and juice left in the pan and the heat turned down, fry the onions and carrots for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.
  4. Put everything into a cooking pot (onions, sage, salt and pepper, sausages, beans, bay leaves and seasoning). Mix well. (I like to slice the sausages so they go a bit further.)
  5. Measure 850ml of hot water. Stir in the tomato purée and stock cubes. Pour the sauce into the cooking pot full of your ingredients and mix well. Cover with a lid and bake on the oven’s centre shelf for around 2 hours.
  6. To finish, take the lid off the hot pan and sprinkle the breadcrumbs all over the top. Bake (without a lid) for a further 20 minutes until the beans are completely cooked through.

  • words:
  • pictures: David Merewether

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