Glamorgan sausages with watercress salad

“It wasn’t hard to fall in love with this classic Welsh dish as it is completely vegetarian. The recipe uses breadcrumbs instead of meat and was popular during World War 2 when meat was scarce. I prefer panko crumbs instead of regular breadcrumbs here as they add more texture to the sausages. ” Luke Nguyen, Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom

• makes

  8

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 250 g panko breadcrumbs
• 150 g Caerphilly cheese or Welsh cheddar, grated
• 6 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 2 sprigs of thyme, leave removed
• generous pinch of salt and black pepper
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 60 ml (¼ cup) milk
• 50 g butter

Salad

• ½ tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• large handful of fresh watercress sprigs
• 1 red Asian shallot, thinly sliced
• 4 cherry tomatoes, halved
• pinch of salt and pepper

Chilling time 30 minutes

Instructions

Place 200 g panko breadcrumbs in a bowl with the grated cheese, spring onions, parsley, thyme and plenty of salt and ground pepper. Using your hands, combine all the ingredients well.

In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the mustard. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the egg mixture, then add the remainder to the breadcrumb mixture along with the milk. Use your hands again to combine well. Divide the mixture into eight, then shape each portion into a sausage about 2.5 cm thick.

Place the reserved egg mixture in a shallow bowl and the remaining breadcrumbs on a plate. Working one at a time, dip the sausages into the egg mixture, then coat with the breadcrumbs. Place on a tray and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm up.

To cook the sausages, melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook the sausages, turning regularly or until lightly browned on all sides. Reduce the heat to low and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towel.

To make the salad, place the mustard and olive oil into a bowl and whisk with a fork to combine. Add the remaining salad ingredients and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately with the hot sausages. 

Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom starts Thursday 14 May 2015 at 8pm on SBS ONE and finishes 2 July 2015. Visit the Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom website to catch-up on episodes online, scroll through recipes or find out more about the show.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.