Devonian Sausage and Mash

This weekend I had the pleasure of entertaining two very good friends from home. The trickiest thing, I find, is thinking up food to cook for people that is a) tasty; b) quick / can be left alone. So, on Saturday as we went around the museums of London I put a dozen sausages in the slow cooker with the very best compliment to sausages, and which definitely makes this recipe Devonian as opposed to being from any other (and inferior) county. 

This key ingredient is cider. But any old cider won't do. It has to be from Sandford Orchards as that is, in my opinion, the best cider in the world. But for this recipe I used some Old Kirton (see image) as it is a great cooking cider and great drinker. It's dry, sharp and with a kick to whisk you back to the rolling, red mudded hills of Devon. 

Not only is Old Kirton a great cooking cider, it's also a fantastic drinking cider. However, if you like your cider fizzy and cold you should probably rethink your life and get some of this down your gullet. 

Anyway, back to the recipe. Dozen sausages and about a litre of cider. If you can't make it Old Kirton, make sure it's dry and flat. Whack on the slow cooker for a few hours (I think this was on for about eight). 

When it's almost ready, mash up some spuds and transfer most of the liquid into a saucepan. Now, with some cornflour you want to thicken up the cider sauce into a cider gravy. Serve up the sausages and the mash and cover with a ladle of the cider gravy. 

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a proper job.