We are staying at the lovely Lincoln Farm Park in Oxfordshire and following the theme of cooking locally inspired dishes I have been searching for Oxfordshire recipes. It's safe to say there aren't many! The obvious choice is the fantastic Oxford Sausage but what to pair it with? Deep in the bowels of the internet I found reference to the traditional dish of Oxford Carrot Pudding but the old recipes were difficult to decipher so I used this Savoury Carrot Pudding recipe from food.com as a base but added my own embellishments. The spicy carrot puree topped with savoury cheesy custard worked a treat with the Oxford sausages, we just needed a sauce and it had to be the tangtastic Oxford Sauce by Baron Puget de St Victor's!
I bought all these ingredients from the delightful shop at Millets Farm Centre but if you cannot get Oxford sausages and sauce I'm sure any sausage will do with good old brown sauce!
Oxford sausages
4x Carrots, very large, about 1lb, peeled and sliced.
1/2 Onion, diced
1x Garlic clove, finely diced
1x Potato, peeled and chopped into 1" chunks
500ml Vegetable stock, I used Marigold Bouillon
1x Handful of fresh parsley
Chili sauce or flakes (optional)
1.5 tbsp. Flour, about 1oz
1/4 Pint of milk
3 Eggs, beaten
Grated cheese, use as much as you like between 100g to 150g
Butter
Oil, I used rape seed
Oxford sauce
1x Bottle of Old Hooky Oxfordshire ale
Method:
1. In a big pan on a low heat slowly cook the onion with a good glug of oil. You are looking to slowly caramelise them and it will take about half an hour.
2. While you are waiting drink the bottle of Old Hooky.
3. When the onions are done add the clove of garlic and cook for a minute.
4. Add the carrots, potato and vegetable stock.
5. Chop up the parsley stalks and add them too. Keep the leaves for later.
6. I cooked mine uncovered for about 25 minutes as I wanted to watch the consistency of the mixture. You could cook covered for about 15 minutes but use less vegetable stock, about 300ml.
7. Add the chopped parsley leaves and your favourite chili sauce, chili flakes or cayenne pepper. Don't bother if you're not a spice lover.
8. Whizz it all up with a hand blender or mash with a fork. Season the puree to taste.
9. Grease an oven dish and pour the carrot puree in.
10. Melt a big knob of butter in a pan and stir in the flour to make a roux. Cook for a minute or two then add the milk and whisk until smooth.
11. Remove from the heat and beat in the eggs, followed by the cheese and season with salt and pepper.
12. Pour over the carrot puree and bake in the oven on gas mark 5 until the top is nicely browned. It was about 30 minutes in my oven.
13. Pop the Oxford sausages in the oven on the lower shelf at the same time. Turn them half way through cooking, they should take about 30 minutes too but they might need a quick brown on the top shelf when the carrot pudding is removed.
14. Plate up and serve with Oxford Sauce and some green veg, we had sugar snap peas cooked in boiling water for about 3 minutes.
