Honey and mustard Chipolatas

The problem with Most Christmas dinners is that more time and care is spend over the Turkey or roast meat of choice other than the sides, so often the vegetables and accompaniments are flavourless and over cooked. I feel that every component that makes up our traditional dinner should be as tasty as the star of the show, a Christmas chipolata should not only be a sausage wrapped in bacon, but should be as important as the rest the meal. I always take the time to make sure that every element of the entire dinner from the turkey to the humble sprout is packed with flavour. The good news about these chipolatas is that they can be cooked in the oven the day before and simply re-heated and browned on the day.

You will need:

12 good quality pork chipolatas
12 rashers of streaky smoked bacon
1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp of runny honey
1 tbsp of vegetables oil
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Wrap each sausage in a rasher of bacon and place into a roasting tray (use a disposable foil tray because then you have no washing up to do). In a bowl mix together the honey, the mustard and the oil. Pour this over the sausages. Finish by stripping a couple of rosemary stalks and scattering it over the sausages. Toss the sausages well so that they are fully covered. Cover the tray with foil so that the sausages do not colour and cook in the oven for 30 mins at 190 degrees. If you want to eat the sausages immediately remove the foil at the 30 minutes and cook for a further 10 minutes. If you want to prep them the day before you can take them out after the half an hour, on Christmas day, uncover them and cook them with the roast potatoes for 15-20 minutes.