I got this beautiful black Chasseur casserole dish for Christmas and it’s perfect for cooking dishes that need breadth not depth. I love braised sausages and my butcher makes lots of different varieties – the Cambridge, Old English, Bury Bangers, Chorizo and wild venison; he also stocks the Suffolk Salami Company salami with fennel which I just couldn’t resist. This recipe celebrates the marriage of the fennel in the salami and some extra fennel seeds to flavour the tomato sauce but I also do a version with chorizo and paprika which is just as delicious.

Serves 4

• Good quality pork butchers sausages – if you serve 2/person you’ll need eight etc.
• 1/2 whole salami (I used Suffolk Salami Company with fennel) or cooking chorizo, skin removed and cut into 2cm chunks
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 peppers, red, yellow or green – chopped into bite-sized chunks
• 1/2 large coffee mug of orzo – roughly 140g
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic paste
• 2 tbsps light olive oil
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2tsp chilli flakes with the salami or 2 tsps hot paprika if you use chorizo
• 1/2 tsp salt and ground black pepper

To make…

• Heat the oil over medium heat in a shallow cast iron casserole. Brown the sausages and set aside.
• Add the fennel seeds, onion and salami chunks and cook for about 10 minutes until softened and golden. Add the garlic and pepper, stir and cook through for a couple of minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Add the vinegar, tomatoes, tomato paste, chilli flakes, black pepper and salt. Stir and mix thoroughly.
• Sprinkle in the orzo, stir and add the sausages so that they are spaced evenly around the dish.
• Cover the casserole and bake in the oven for about an hour.
• The sauce should be thick, the orzo will plump up and the sausages should be tender. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.

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