An hour after leaving Dijon, I was lost. A tangle of lanes, endless vineyards, and a low mist left me confused and desperately looking for a farm at which to ask for directions. It wasn’t the most poetic of farmyards, but there was dry mud and clean straw underfoot and tight bales of hay on which were perched a hundred or more fat, round pumpkins soaking up the late-afternoon sun like a group of ladies in a Beryl Cook painting. I whistled and called without reply; not even a dog barked. As I waited, the pumpkins seemed to be watching me, growing faintly malevolent in the fading golden light. I felt like a lost child in a haunting fairy tale. Whether it was the watching fruits or the deserted farm that spooked me, I got back in the car and left as fast as I could. Thirty years on, I think of them in an altogether friendlier light, but they are still what I want at Halloween and on Guy Fawkes’ Night. I came up with this modern take on the classic sausage and mash a year or two ago in an attempt to pacify a herd of boisterous and hungry kids that descended on me one October. It worked.
Recipe information
Yield
enough for 4
Ingredients
For the Mash
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Put the sausages in a baking pan large enough to take them in a single layer. If they overlap, they won’t cook properly. In a bowl mix the mustards, honey, and lemon juice and stir well. Pour them over the sausages and toss gently. Bake for twenty-five to thirty minutes, rolling the sausages over in the honey and mustard mixture once or twice, so that they eventually take on a sticky, glossy coat.
Step 2
For the mash: peel the squash, cut it in half lengthwise, and pull out the fibers. Cut the flesh into thick pieces and pile into a metal colander or steamer basket. Steam, covered, for about twenty minutes until tender.
Step 3
Remove the squash from the heat, put it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mash with the butter and a little black pepper until thoroughly smooth. It is probably worth remembering that children generally hate lumps in food.
Step 4
Divide the mash among four plates and pop the sausages on top.
