Toulouse sausages braised with grapes and vincotto

This dish braises Toulouse sausages with eschallots and muscatels soaked in Gamay or Pinot, creating a balance of rich savoury flavour and gentle sweetness. Serve over buttery polenta or mashed potatoes. This recipe comes from Steve Flamsteed.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Series. Cooking. Rated PG.

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Ingredients

• 200 g dried muscatels on stems
• 300 ml Yarra Valley Gamay or Pinot Noir
• 1 kg Toulouse pork sausages (4 large or 8 small)
• 75 g butter
• 2 garlic cloves
• 500 g eschallot bulbs, peeled, halved
• 3 carrots, roughly chopped
• 100 g saucisson sec (or dried hung pork sausage/salami), cut into lardons
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, plus extra to garnish
• 2 tsp plain flour
• 2 cups (500 ml) good-quality beef stock
• 100 ml vincotto
• Salt and black pepper

Polenta

• 3 cups (750 ml) chicken stock
• 50 ml Yalumba Virgilius
• 200 g polenta
• 30 g butter, cold
• 150 g raclette cheese, coarsely grated
• Salt and black pepper

Soaking time: 1-2 hours.

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, soak the muscatels on stems in the wine for 1-2 hours, then strain through a fine mesh strainer, reserving the wine and muscatels separately. Set aside.
2. Heat a barbecue or chargrill pan, then grill the sausages until lightly browned. Remove to a large baking dish (around 25 cm x 26 cm x 6 cm). Add the soaked muscatels in between the sausages, then set aside. Preheat the oven to at 180˚C.
3. While the oven is heating, in a large frying pan, melt the butter to a light, nutty brown. Add the garlic, eschallots, carrot, saucisson lardons, bay leaves and thyme and cook until the eschallots are lightly browned. Add the flour to the pan, stirring to combine, then deglaze the pan with half the beef stock and the reserved muscatel soaking wine. Simmer to reduce by half, then add the vincotto and remaining beef stock. Taste and add a little more wine if needed for acidity.
4. Pour the contents of the frying pan over the prepared tray with the sausages, season with a generous pinch of salt and black pepper, then bake for 45-60 minutes. Remove from the oven. Taste the sauce and adjust to your liking.
5. Meanwhile, make the polenta. In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock and wine to the boil. While stirring, gradually pour in the polenta, then reduce the heat to low, continuing to stir for 15-30 minutes, scraping the base of the pan to prevent it from sticking – the ideal texture is thick and velvety, similar to a soft, wet dough. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Just before serving, increase the heat to medium, then stir through the butter for 30 seconds, followed by the grated cheese.
6. Divide the polenta and braised sausages between plates and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.