How to made Pork, fresh herb and prune sausages

Makes 12 sausages

Ingredients

500g diced pork
500g pork belly, diced
¼  bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
½  bunch fresh chives
3  sprigs fresh oregano
6  sage leaves
4  pitted prunes
1  tbsp olive oil
1½  tsp sea salt flakes
freshly ground black pepper
natural or synthetic casings, soaked as below (see cooks tip)


Method

Attach the coarse grinding plate to the food grinder on the stand mixer.

Turn the mixer to speed 4 and feed three quarters of the meat into the hopper, pushing the meat down with the pusher. Add herbs, prunes and remaining meat and push down with the pusher. Turn off mixer, remove the coarse grinding plate and attach the fine grinding plate. Repeat the grinding process adding the coarsely ground meat back into the hopper.

To the port mixture, add the oil, salt and pepper. Attach the flat beater and mix on speed 4 until well combined.

Grease the outside of the large sausage stuffer tube and slide on about half a metre of the casing. * One speed 4, feed through the mince mixture, taking care not to tightly pack the skin. Lay the sausage flat and twist into lengths. For easy handling while cooking, cut each link into individual sausages.

Place the sausages into a saucepan and cover with water, bring to a very gentle boil, this par cooks the sausages*. Drain well and dry with paper towel.

Drizzle the sausages with a little extra olive oil and char grill on a hot bbq or in a large non stick frying pan. Cook for 5 minutes over a low heat, turning the sausages occasionally. Do not prick the sausages, this will cause them to split and dry.

Serve the sausages with a crisp garden salad and relish or sauce of choice.


Tips:

* Natural fresh casings are available from better quality butchers. Check if they have been soaked before using. to soak place them in cold water for about  30 minutes then rinse well. Store fresh casings in salted water in the refrigerator and use within 2-3 days. other casing option include synthetic and natural collagen.

* Tieing the end of the casing : The end of the casing can be tied before stuffing. if not tieing until after filling, allow enugh skin to easily tie off.

* Parcooking is an excellent method the remove excess fat and ensure the sausages cook evenly without splitting or burning.

After parcooking, sausages are best eaten within 1-2 days, regrigerate in a sealed container.