Phil's indulgent bangers and mash

Thursday 15 March at 1:15pm

With news that ready-made mash potato has made a comeback to our shopping baskets, Phil Vickery's in the kitchen with a masterclass in perfecting your very own mash at home.

So whether you like it smooth or lumpy, with cheese or a sprinkling of herbs, he'll be dishing up his indulgent version of the ultimate comfort food - bangers and mash with rich onion gravy.

Ingredients:

For the perfect mash potatoes:

500g raw, peeled potatoes gently cooked until soft and mashed with a masher or ricer150ml warm milk75g unsalted butter, melted (*this is an indulgent mash recipe, you can halve orcompletely remove the butter)salt and freshly milled black pepperpinch ground nutmegFor the posh onion gravy:2 tbsp olive oil3 large onions, finely sliced2 glasses red wine 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped1 tbsp flour2 pints good, strong beef stock2 tbsp redcurrant jellySalt and freshly milled pepper8 good quality pork sausages or vegetarian sausages of your choice

Method

For the mash potato: First make the mashed potatoes.
Place the warm mash into a bowl, add the milk and butter and stir well.
Finally add the salt and pepper, and a touch of nutmeg and mix well.
You may need to add a little more milk to get a smooth, but not runny mash cover andkeep warm.
For the posh onion gravy: Heat the oil, then add the onions and cook for 15 minutesto soften.
Add the wine and thyme and cook down until almost evaporated.
Add the flour and mix well.
Add the stock, jelly and cook gently for 20 minutes or until cooked and thickened.
Season well with salt and pepper, serve.
For the sausages: Pre-heat a grill, oven or frying pan and cook the sausages well.

Phil's tips:

The salt in the gravy can be reduced, adding vinegar to the onions and reducingthem gives the sauce a nice sharp edge; this also helps to reduce the amountof salt needed to make a nice sauce.
You can remove the butter from the mash and add a couple of tablespoons ofolive oil instead. Alternatively you can just add milk to the mashed potatoes asyou have plenty of gravy to soften the mash.
If you do not have gravy granules, add 1 tbsp of flour to the cooked andreduced onions, then add water and a beef stock cube, this will thickenperfectly.