The recipe
Brown 6 fat Tuscan sausages on all sides in a little oil in a shallow pan. Roughly dice 2 medium carrots and 2 red onions. Remove the sausages then sauté the carrots and onions in the sausage fat until they start to colour.
Stir in 3 tbsp of plain flour and let it brown lightly, then pour in 500ml of chicken stock and bring to the boil. Return the sausages to the pan, add 6 sprigs of thyme and 6 of rosemary, together with 4 bay leaves. Leave to simmer, half covered with a lid, for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile peel and coarsely grate 250g of celeriac then fry until crisp in 4 tbsp of olive oil. Toss with the leaves from 6 sprigs of parsley, finely chopped, then lift and scatter over the sausage hotpot. Serves 2.
The trick
A thorough browning of the sausages leaves a delicious sticky sediment in the pan, which will deepen the flavour of the stew. Get them dark and sticky on all sides before removing them and frying the carrot and onion.
The twist
I have made the grated root vegetable crust for this with parsnips in place of celeriac and can heartily recommend it.
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