Tomato and Sausage Bake

Ingredients

• 1kg Tomatoes
• 500g gourmet Sausages (I use fat chicken and garlic snags)
• 2 or 3 strips of streaky Bacon
  
• 1.5 - 2 cups Balsamic vinegar
• Olive Oil
• 1 tblspn Rosemary roughly chopped if fresh
• 2 tspn thyme
• 2 or 3 Bay leaves
  
• 1 tin Tiny Taters (or baby potatoes)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 or 3 Garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
  
• Tasty Cheese, grated (optional)
  

Method:

• Preheat oven to around 190 degrees. Pour oil into oven proof deep dish and layer bacon in the bottom. Put in oven for about 5 mins until fragrant.
  
• Cut the cores out of the tomatoes, about 2 or 3 cm in, and place hole down in dish. They should be snug fit. Place back in oven for about 10 mins, then remove from heat. Roughly remove the skins (should be wrinkly now) and then add the herbs and garlic and season with salt and pepper.
  
• Roll sausages in oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and sausages to the tomatoes and pour the vinegar and a little olive oil over the lot. Return to oven and bake for a further 30 - 40 mins. If cheese is used, add to the top in the last 10 mins.

This is a variation of a Jamie Oliver recipe, one a mate and I have made on occaison and its a favourite. You can substitute the taters for chunky crusty Itallian bread if you like, or just about anything you can think of. The more gourmet they snags, the better the dish so dont just use cheap ones, and they have to be thick snags for this to really shine. You can accompany this dish with mashed potato, polenta, rice, pasta, or chunks of bread. By all means, use several diffferent types of sausages!

Enjoy!

-James, the Not So Skinny Cook