spicy butter bean and tomato stew with turkish sujuk (garlic sausage)

spicy butterbean and tomato stew with
Turkish garlic sausage (sujuk)

I may have been a bit bleary-eyed with sleep at sparrow-fart this morning, but it was crystal clear how the temperature had fallen sharply overnight when I opened the back door and looked out across the garden, which was encrusted with a light dusting of frost, my breath visible in the cold air. I could also hear how cold it was when I caught a strange huffing, puffing sound. The neighbour's fat young tabby, Oscar, tiptoed over to say good morning. I could almost hear him saying "ooh, ah, sheesh, it's icy out here, oh my poor fat paws!" he huffed and puffed and shook his whiskers at me dolefully. 

Once I had stopped laughing, I immediately started thinking as I usually do from the moment I wake up, what am I going to cook today? It needs to be hearty, warming peasant fare. But today I don't much feel like getting down to my Irish and Scottish peasant roots. I'm going Mediterranean because there are some days when the bright colours on your plate can wrap you in a sense of sunshine and warmth, when all the evidence suggests snow is on the way.

Heathcliffe had been shopping at one of his local Turkish grocers in Dalston and had bought an enormous pack of sujuk (or sucuk) sausages and we split them between us.

I meant to use haricot or cannellini beans, but must have bought a job lot of butter beans at some point. They will do perfectly well. I had also intended to use a green pepper as I had remembered buying one in the dim and distant past and suspected it was still lurking in the kitchen somewhere. It was there indeed, but had now ripened to a pale orange-red. Lovely.

You should probably serve this with rice or a bulgar wheat pilaf, but I had mine with a baked potato and a big pile of buttered red chard. I would have added a little fresh parsley too, but my parsley plant had completely keeled over under the weight of the frost. The wild leeks are rampaging through the garden, so a few leaves, finely chopped added a little more colour and a gentle garlic flavour.

Serves 4
Skill level: Easy

ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
200g sujuk, sliced (Turkish lamb or beef cured sausage)
a knob of butter
1 x red onion, finely chopped
2 x garlic cloves, very finely chopped
1 x red (or green) pepper, finely chopped
3-4 tomatoes, chopped
1 x tin of butter beans, drained and rinsed (410g)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp harissa paste
½ tsp ground cumin
1 x bay leaf
1 tbsp tomato paste
150ml stock (chicken or vegetable)
a splash of wine (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of sugar
fresh parsley, finely chopped (to serve)

directions:

1. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a small frying pan. Lightly fry the sliced sujuk on each side. (About 2 minutes on each side.) Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Add the rest of the olive oil and a knob of butter to the oil in the pan. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and gently fry for about 5 minutes until beginning to soften.
3. Add the garlic and red pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, butter beans, oregano, harissa, cumin and bay leaf. Stir to make sure that all of the ingredients are well combined.
5. Add the tomato paste, stock and a splash of wine. Bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat and cover. Simmer the stew for 10 minutes, before adding the sujuk. Continue to cook over a low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
6. Check the seasoning. You may need to add a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes are particularly tart.
7. Sprinkle over a little chopped fresh parsley before serving.

tip:

• If you can't get hold of any sujuk then use chorizo or garlic sausage.