Mixing BowlBates

Roasted sausages with tomatoes

RICH FLAVOR Simple French roasted sausages, tomatoes, onions, garlic and beans can be served alone or with bread and wine.

Tarmo Hannula

By SARAH RINGLER

If you have some cherry tomatoes hanging on in your garden, this is an easy way to use them up. The core of this recipe is from Rachel Ray.

Ray’s recipe calls for Italian sausage but in the Pajaro Valley, we live in a sausage wonderland, so I used Freedom Meat Lockers and Sausage Company’s Smoked Jalapeño and Cheese sausage. They taste great on their own but with roasted tomatoes, red onion, garlic cloves and white beans, they might even taste better. In case you don’t know where Freedom Meat Lockers are, they’re tucked off of Green Valley near the PVUSD Towers at 160 Hi Grade Lane. They sell many high grades of meat and are a good place to order your Thanksgiving turkey. The sausages are rich and flavorful but I still added the “herbes de Provence,” a mixture of herbs that are typically used in cuisine from the southern region of France called Provence. You can buy a jar of commercial mix, but it would be more authentic to use the herbs separately that are typically in the mixture which are savory, marjoram, rosemary, fennel seeds, thyme and oregano. Sometimes, lavender is added too. Few of these herbs are native to Provence but their use has evolved over time in that region’s cuisine. Savory, which is one I don’t keep on hand, is related to rosemary and thyme, and is native to North Africa.

This is a very easy recipe that yields a lot of flavor for little effort. Peeling the garlic cloves takes the most time. If you have more time, you can make biscuits or crusty rolls to go alongside.

Roasted Sausages with Tomatoes and White Beans

4 spicy sausages, Italian or already cooked sausage 1 pound cherry tomatoes 1 large red onion, cut into 3/4 inch wedges 1 head garlic, about 10-12 whole cloves, peeled 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar 2 teaspoons herbes de Provence

Salt and pepper to taste 1 can (15 to 15.8 oz.) Cannellini beans or great northern beans, undrained 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Break up the garlic head and peel the cloves. Chop the red onion into wedges. Put the first 7 ingredients in a large ovenproof skillet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to mix. Arrange in a single layer.

Put the skillet in the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Make sure the sausages are browned and if you used uncooked Italian sausage, make sure they are completely cooked. Onions, garlic and tomatoes should be soft and fully roasted. Gently stir the beans and their liquid into the hot skillet. Return to the oven and warm slightly if desired. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve. Serves four.