Bangers and Mash

As we are truly frugal gourmets (not like that bearded "I bid you peace" guy on PBS, who only shows you a bunch of finished dishes, none of them cheap to make), we buy a lot of staples whenever they go on sale, and then use them over time. Our freezer is so full of dinner portions of meats, poultry, and seafood, not to mention a month's supply of orange juice, that it can be dangerous to open the door. But sometimes this policy backfires, as when we bought three dinners' worth of "Italian" sausages that turned out to be bland and boring (see "Three Little Peppers" below, September 17).
But "bland and boring" are actually virtues in English cooking, so when I had an envie the other day for good ol' bangers and mash, we were set. With the cooler weather setting in, primeval man seeks primeval food.
Simplicity itself: browned the sausages in a film of oil, then tossed in a mess of onions. The only secret is to leave them alone until they're slightly scorched (read "caramelized") on one side before stirring them about. Add a half glass of white wine. Meanwhile set some tatties boiling. Nice thing is, you can set the timer for 15 minutes, go watch Antiques Roadshow ($5000 for that?), flip the sausages, watch Antiques Roadshow for another 10 minutes ($50,000 for that?!). Smashed the potatoes in the Kitchen Aid with lots and lots of cream (using the paddle attachment: so perhaps paddled potatoes? Sounds pleasantly pervy to me.) Poured on the resulting onion gravy. Puts the comfort back in comfort food.