Nigel Slater’s recipes for sausages with spinach and cannellini beans, and artichokes, potatoes, cheese and cider

They were hidden between bouquets of parsley and coriander on the green grocer’s display. Fat bunches of true spinach so fresh they stood up by themselves, their leaves as sharp as a Stone Age arrow, tied up with rubber bands. The sort of crisp-stemmed spinach that would laugh in the face of those flabby, round-ended leaves incarcerated in cellophane at the supermarket. I bought four bunches.

It was a sausage-and-beans kind of night. Fat sausages from a traditional butcher, coarse-textured and freckled with thyme and black pepper.

I cooked them slowly, turning them over and over as their tight skins burnished in the pan. The beans were cannellini from a tin, simmered with chicken stock, tarragon leaves and garlic, the ivory sauce marbled green with the spinach.

Greens aside, the majority of the best seasonal vegetables are still those grown underground. This week was the turn of Jerusalem artichokes, only the second time I have cooked them this winter. They pair well with small potatoes and this I did in a cheese-crowned gratin, the sauce enriched with stock and cider. The leftovers heated up well, too, and we ate them as a side dish with grilled chicken. I’m thinking now that I could have used the spinach in the gratin as well, some of the blanched leaves tucked in among the creamy white tubers.

Sausages with spinach and cannellini beans

Use whatever spinach you can get hold of. The young heart-shaped leaves need very little cooking. Small and tender, they are really meant for salad, but sometimes that is the only sort available. A minute or two, still wet from washing and in a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, will steam them in no time. The larger-leaved true spinach will take a minute or two longer and you may have to trim the stems. I like to lift the cooked leaves from the pan with a sieve and plunge them immediately and briefly into iced water. The cold stops them cooking and sets the colour to a luminous green. Serves 3

Wash the spinach leaves and discard any thick stems. Put the leaves, still dripping wet, in a deep pan covered by a tight lid, over a moderate heat. Let them steam for 3 or 4 minutes, then turn the leaves over with kitchen tongs and steam for a further minute until they are collapsed and bright green. Remove from the heat and rinse the spinach briefly in ice-cold water, squeeze firmly to remove any water, then roughly chop and leave to cool.

Cook the sausages: put a large frying pan over a moderate heat. Warm the oil in a shallow pan to which you have a lid over a low to moderate heat. Place the sausages in the pan and brown. Keep a close eye on them, turning when the underside is a glossy, golden brown and continuing to cook until done to your liking.

Peel and squash flat the garlic cloves. You only want a mere hint of the clove. Warm the olive oil in a deep pan and add the garlic. Drain the cannellini beans and stir into the pan. Pour in the chicken stock, add the tarragon, a little salt, turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and let the beans simmer for about 5 minutes until the stock has reduced by half.

Introduce the cream and spinach into the beans and stir for a minute or two till bubbling. Stir in the parsley. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper, and a little lemon juice to brighten the flavours. At this point I sometimes stir in a thin slice of butter to enrich the sauce. Serve with the sausages.

Artichokes, potatoes, cheese and cider

‘Jerusalem artichokes pair well with small potatoes’: artichokes, potatoes, cheese and cider. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer

Knobbly artichokes are the very devil to peel. I don’t think we have to be too pernickety about it, though. Better to leave a little skin in situ than lose half your tuber to the vegetable peeler.

Serves 4-6
oval shallots 3, large
olive oil 2 tbsp
vegetable stock 250ml
Jerusalem artichokes 400g
small waxy potatoes 250g
plain flour 3 tbsp
medium dry cider 250ml
grain mustard 2 tsp
thyme leaves 2 tsp
parsley leaves 4 tbsp, chopped
cheddar grated, 150g
breadcrumbs a handful

Peel the shallots and halve them lengthways. Warm the olive oil in a wide, shallow pan, add the shallots and let them soften and colour to a pale gold, turning them over from time to time. Remove them from the pan, leaving the oil in place. (You will need the pan again.) Pour the stock into a saucepan and warm over a moderate heat.

Peel the artichokes, slice them thinly, no thicker than a pound coin, then add them to the empty shallot pan over a moderate heat. Allow them to colour lightly. (You may need to do this in two batches, depending on the size of your pan.) Cut the potatoes into thick coins and stir them in, lower the heat, cover with a lid in then cook for a further 10 minutes. Scatter the flour over the vegetables and continue cooking for a couple of minutes, then pour in the cider and stock and bring to the boil.

Stir in the grain mustard, shallots, thyme and parsley, season generously with salt and black pepper and continue to simmer, partially covered with a lid, for a few minutes, adding a little more stock or cider as necessary, until you have a sauce of medium thickness. Stir in half the grated cheese.

Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Transfer the potato mixture to a shallow baking dish, scatter over the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs and bake for 20 minutes.

Follow Nigel on Instagram @NigelSlater