Traybakes are the king of stress-free cooking. With crisped-up new potatoes, roasted cabbage and chunky sausages, this is your meat and two veg all cooked in one. Get yourself some good-quality bangers – you could even try some spicy merguez sausages if you’d like a bit of heat.
SERVES 4
750g medium new potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped
8 pork sausages
1 white cabbage, cut into 8 wedges
20g butter, melted
6 baby leeks, cut into 4cm lengths
1 whole garlic bulb, halved through the equator
1–2 tbsp thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
GLAZE
300ml beef stock
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp cornflour, mixed to a paste with 1 tbsp water
1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Fan 200°C/Gas 7. Add the new potatoes to a pan of boiling salted water, bring to the boil and cook for 10–12 minutes or until just tender. Drain well.
2. Place the boiled new potatoes in a large roasting tray and smash each one to flatten, using the base of a coffee mug or a sturdy glass. Drizzle over the olive oil, sprinkle with the rosemary and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix with your hands, making sure the potatoes are well coated with the oil. Bake on a high shelf in the oven for 15 minutes.
3. Take the tray from the oven and flip each potato over. Add the sausages and cabbage wedges to the tray, brushing the exposed sides of the cabbage with melted butter to stop them drying out. Add the baby leeks and halved garlic bulb.
4. Place the tray back in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 15 minutes. Take the tray out again and turn the sausages and veg. Return to the oven for a final 15 minutes.
5. While the traybake finishes cooking, make the glaze. Put the beef stock, mustard and honey into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring, over a medium-high heat. Add the wine vinegar and a little seasoning. Stir in the blended cornflour and cook, stirring, until the glaze thickens slightly. Taste to check the seasoning and remove from the heat. Stir through the chopped parsley.
6. Take the sausage traybake from the oven and trickle the honey mustard glaze over everything. Serve straight away, with some crusty bread alongside.