Sausage, squash and butter bean stew with hasselback potatoes recipe

Have I told you about so much I love having a kitchen again? I have? Well, in that case, maybe skip onto the next paragraph, because I'm going to have to go through it again. Oh, kitchen, I love you. I love having a washing machine back, and an oven, and a hob. Having been happily plunged back into a kitchened world, I've found myself trying to cook a bit more.

Maybe it was the long days at school, maybe it was a lack of inspiration, but I just couldn't face cooking before the kitchen got put out of action. In the month that it was up on bricks, I ate a lot of takeaways, a few tins of whatever (Amy's chilli happened a lot), and a lot of toast. By the time the builders were finished, I really fancied getting involved with cooking again. 

With the weather turning colder (well, sometimes), all I want to make is great big warming plates of stuff. The sort of stuff that you can eat in your PJs or with your back against the radiator watching Blue Planet II. The sort of stuff that you need a doorstop of bread to soak up. The sort of stuff you can cook without any effort, with half your brain thinking about revision. Despite a reasonably long list of ingredients, it's pretty easy to make. You just chuck stuff in the oven or a pan, stir it occasionally, and then eat it. No brain required. 

I got the idea for this from seeing a beautiful picture flash past on Twitter, but I can't remember what the recipe was for or who posted it. Whoever you were, random clever Twitterer, thank you for the inspiration.

Sausage, squash and butterbean stew with hasselback potatoes
Serves three or four 

Ingredients

Six to eight potatoes, around 100g each (a couple for each person should be good)

One onion, chopped finely

Two cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

One tablespoon of paprika

One half teaspoon chilli powder

Leaves from two large springs of rosemary, stripped from stalks and chopped finely

One tin of chopped tomatoes

250g of squash, diced (I used crown prince, but whatever you've got on hand is good with me)

One teaspoon of blackstrap molasses (or vegan sweetener/sugar of your choice)

Half a tin can's worth of veggie stock or vegan red wine

One tin of butterbeans, drained

One packet of vegan sausage (I used Taifun herb grill sausages)

Four or five large kale leaves, stalks removed, and chopped into thin strips

How you do it

Heat oven to 200 degrees C or 180C for a fan oven

Make cuts across the potatoes, 3mm or so between them, three-quarters of the way down. Don't cut all the way through, or your potatoes will fall apart, which would be a vegetable tragedy.

Once the spuds are in the oven and cooking heat some oil in a large saucepan, then add the onion and cook for 5 to 10 minutes over a medium heat until translucent.

Add the garlic, paprika, chilli powder, and rosemary, and cook for another minute or so.

Add the tinned tomatoes, squash, molasses, stock or wine, and butterbeans.

Cook for 15 minutes or so over a low simmer.

Add the sausages, and cook for for another 5 minutes.

Pop in the kale, and give the whole thing another 3 or so minutes on the heat (or just cook until the kale is wilted).

Spoon the stew into bowls, then top with a couple of potatoes for each bowl.