Lebanese-style sausages

...or the perfect Friday night dinner!  I bet you already have all the ingredients in your cupboard too!

Here we go:

- Good quality sausages, preferably with spices or herbs

- two cloves of garlic, minced

- one teaspoon of hot pepper sauce

- one teaspoon of paprika powder

- one tablespoon of brown sugar

- two tablespoons of tomato puree

- one lemon
 

Chop up the sausages in bite size pieces. You will end up scooping them up with big chunks of your favourite bread, so why not make your life easier beforehand. Fry them until crispy on the outside, but not burnt; no need to use any oil for frying, they will release their own. I am using orange flavoured sausages from Sparti (loukaniko me portokali) that I picked up from Athens airport, last time I was in Greece. You can use Lebanese manek or even Spanish salchichon, as long as the meat is flavoursome and tightly packed. Once fried, this type of sausage is so juicy and fragrant that you can really taste the orange!
 

I'm afraid that at this stage you will have to show some willpower and stay away from the fried sausage bites. Eating them up before you finish off the sauce will be a disaster. Put them aside!

Use the same pan, with the oils released from the sausages. You might want to throw some of the fat away if there is too much. On low heat fry off the minced garlic, hot pepper sauce, paprika, brown sugar, tomato puree and juice from half the lemon. It will take no more than five minutes for the flavours to come together.

Tip the sausage bites in the sauce and toss around for two minutes. Squeeze some lemon on top of them. Done! This sauce is sticky enough to just coat the sausages, not a runny gravy; so don't be alarmed by the quantities required. The idea is that you get the lovely consistency of Armenian sojouk that you get in Levant and Momo's. Throw a couple of ready made baguettes in the oven while you are making the sauce and you can sit back with a glass of ouzo and lemonade within fifteen of coming home from work! Friday night sorted!