Cheese Sausages With Beer Gravy

I made these about a year ago when my recipes were on my MySpace page. Some of my friends made them and they were a big hit. The only problem was that everyone kept saying "I loved your cheese sausages." So I want to set the record straight. They're not mine, they're SIMON RIMMER's. You can find the original recipe here. Still they are great for a special vegetarian dinner. This time Chayne was coming around for lunch to meet my parents for the first time. She's a vegetarian so I wanted to make something nice. I really don't know what my Dad is playing at in the picture!

Lancashire Cheese Sausages (Serves 4-6)
400g Lancashire Cheese, grated
225g mozarella, grated
200g white breadcrumbs
6 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped thyme
1 tbsp chopped basil
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 medium eggs and 3 medium egg yolks
2 garlic cloves, crushed

For the gravy
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 large onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp light brown sugar
25g plain flour
200ml brown ale
500ml vegetable stock
2 tsp Marmite

For the mash
1kg potatoes
150g butter
2 tbsp whole grain mustard

1) First you need to make the sausages, so put all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix it all together with your hands. Then split the mixture into 12 equal sized oportions and roll each one into a fat sausage shape. Refridgerate for at least two hours or overnight.
2) Next make the gravy. Fry the onions in the vegeetable oil for 10 minutes, then add the garlic, sugar and continue cooking for ten minutes until the onions are golden brown. Now sprink with the flour and cook for a further minute. Finally add the stock and the Marmite and cook until it has reducced to a nice gravy
3) Now start making the mash. Cut the potato into decent-sized chunks and cook in salted water for 15 minutes. Mash with the butter and mustard, put a lid on the pan and keep warm until the sausages are done. with five minutes cooking time to go, put a green vegetable on to boil - I went for broccoli - and boil for five minutes.
4) Now you need to heat enough oil for deep frying in a saucepan. When it's hot enough (test to see if it's working with a cube of white bread. If it turns golden brown in 40 seconds, the oil is at the right temperature. Now drop the sausages into the hot oil in batches. You'll know when they're done when they go golden brown - should be about three minutes

I think everyone, including meat eaters, should give these a go. I love the way the outside is crunchy and the inside soft but it's the addition of those herbs that really makes what could be something heavy and greasy into something fresh and tasty. The beer might not be to everyone's liking as it does give the gravy a slight bitter aftertaste.