Cabbage & sausage hotpot with cheesy mash

This is as easy to cook as beans on toast ... and far more tasty and impressive!  It's a recipe from Spooning With Rosie by Rosie Lovell.

Serves 4 

2 tablespoons of olive oil

12 sausages, which is about 770g

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or mild chili powder

1 white cabbage, weighing about 1.5kg

1 large glass of white white (about 200ml)

1 large pear

freshly ground black pepper 

sea salt

1 teaspoon granulated brown sugar

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, preferably something like a Le Creuset with a heavy bottom, on a medium flame.  Add the sausages ( do not prick them as you will lose the flavour - keeping the juice in the sausages also means that the meat is more succulent) for a few minutes with the fennel and mustard seeds and the cayenne pepper or chili powder.  the sausages should get a little browned and then be removed with some tongs on to a plate.  Set them aside while you finely slice the cabbage with a sharp knife.  You could also use a mandolin slicer here if you have one.  Now add the cabbage and and wine to the saucepan while you core and roughly chop the pear and add this in turn.  Place the lid on the saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes, removing the lid occasionally to stir and witness the wilting of the firm leaves of the cabbage.  Now turn down to a low flame and and return the tinged sausages to the pot, along with the pepper, salt and granulated sugar.  Simmer with the lid on for a further 20 minutes.  The cabbage should be delicate and have a transparent sheen to it by the time the hotpot is ready.  

For the cheesy mash, peel and chop about 5 large potatoes.  Boil in salted water until cooked all the way through.  Drain, and add a splash of milk and a large knob of butter and mash until smooth.  Put the mashed potato into a oven proof dish and grate a generous amount of cheddar cheese on top.  Bake in a hot oven (about 200oc) for about 10-15 minutes, or until cheese begins to brown.