210/656 - Pork sausages with sage and tomato

Henry and I went on a bit of a food hunt yesterday and ended up at Cannings Free Range butchers in Hawthorn. I loved the store, very neat and well laid out, and of course they had an amazing array of meat. But my favourite element was the flat caps worn by the butchers which made me feel as if I had stepped back in time. This experience was beautifully topped off when I was handed my (rather heavy) paper bag of purchases. How fabulous, environmentally friendly and stylish to boot!   

Stephanie suggests pricking and parboiling sausages before they are fried and I thought I would give this a go, liking the idea that the insides might have a better chance of being cooked correctly if I followed this method. Trev was mildly mortified that I was going to prick them and it brought back memories of an article I once read in which the author was similarly devastated to discover that Stephanie was a pricker. Personally I don't see what all of the fuss is about, having no strong feelings on either side of the sausage preparation debate.  

After downing a particularly gorgeous salad for entrée (post to come later) I convinced Trev that we needed only one pork sausage each for our main course. I did cook four as the recipe suggested but of course everybody knows an odd number looks better in a photograph!  

Once parboiled, the sausages were cooked with sage leaves and tomatoes that had been seeded, peeled and chopped. The result was absolutely sensational and as well as loving the tomato sauce I suspect this had quite a bit to do with the wonderful quality of the meat.   

I am very pleased I had the foresight to buy additional sausages to freeze, and am very much looking forward to a second round of this dish in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I am interested to hear from anybody with particularly strong views on the art of sausage preparation!