Colcannon with Cabbage, Sausages & Applesauce

For the colcannon: Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain 3/4 of the water after 5-10 minutes, and continue to cook on a low heat, avoiding stabbing the potatoes with a knife. (If they are floury potatoes they will break up if you do.) When they are cooked, drain all the water off, peel and mash with most of the butter while hot.

Meanwhile, cook the cabbage: Cut the cabbage into quarters, then cut out the core. Slice the cabbage finely across the grain. Heat a saucepan, add 25 grams of butter and 2 tablespoons water, add the sliced cabbage, and toss over a medium heat for 7-10  minutes, until just cooked.

Add to the potatoes, then add the milk and the parsley, keeping some of the milk back in case you do not need it all. Season to taste and beat until creamy and smooth, adding  more milk if necessary. Serve piping hot with the remaining butter melting in the center.

For the sausages, mix together all the ingredients, except for the olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Fry a tiny bit of the mixture in a pan with a little olive or sunflower oil to see if the seasoning is good.

Divide the mixture into 12 pieces and shape each one into a sausage. Place on a baking tray or plate and set aside until you want to cook them. (Chilling them for a day in the fridge is fine, or you can freeze them.) To cook the sausages, heat a frying pan on a low to medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil or sunflower oil and gently fry the sausages for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden on all sides and cooked on the inside.

For the applesauce: Peel, decore and chop the apple into large chunks. Put into a small saucepan, add the sugar and water and cook on a very low heat for 8 minutes, or until the apple is soft and pulpy. Stir and taste.

You can serve this applesauce with roast duck, pork or goose. It keeps for a few days, and freezes too!