Bangers and Mash a rustic, hearty dish

SThe Associated Press t. Patrick’s Day traditions run deep. We eat corned beef and cabbage, we drink green beer, and we shame our co-workers into wearing green sweaters to the office. If you’re looking for a change of pace this year (except for the sweaters, which are mandatory), maybe a menu swap is in order.

The Culinary Institute of America’s recipe for Bangers and Mash is a rustic, hearty dish that will easily earn its place among your holiday traditions.

Creamy potatoes, homemade gravy, and sausage are classic comfort foods on the Emerald Isle, and this recipe helps you make every component from scratch.

You may be skeptical, but homemade sausage is incredibly easy to prepare. If you’ve ever made a meatloaf or meatball, you’ve basically made sausage.

The recipes we’ve included here call for the sausages to be stuffed into casings, which you can buy from your butcher, or even on the Internet.

You can use a sausage stuffing machine or stand-mixer attachment to fill the casings or, if you don’t mind a little hard work, you can even stuff the sausages by hand.

For a super simplified version, though, you can skip the casings entirely. Prepare the filling as written, then form it into patties that you can cook like a hamburger.

You can also roll it into sausage link-shaped logs and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate them to help them firm up a bit, then remove the plastic and cook them like you would any other sausages.

The meat for your sausage will need to be finely ground, which you may be able to do at home if you have the right equipment. If not, you can ask your butcher to grind it for you.

Once you have your sausage squared away, it’s all about the velvety buttermilk whipped potatoes and stout-onion gravy. Stouts, like Guinness, are bold and rich, with enough bitterness to help cut through the creaminess of the dish. You can use any beer — or even red wine — for the gravy, but for St. Patrick’s Day, the Dublin-bred Guinness is almost a requirement. Just don’t spill it on your green sweater. BANGERS AND MASH WITH BUTTERMILK WHIPPED POTATOES AND

STOUT-ONION GRAVY Start to finish: 3 hours, 30 minutes (Active time: 2 hours) Servings: 8 • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil • 8 links sausage of either Duck Chorizo or Chicken Sausage (recipes follow) • 2 cups cooked white beans • Stout-Onion Gravy • Buttermilk Whipped Potatoes • Fried Root Vegetable Chips Lightly oil a grill or grill pan and heat to medium-high. Grill the sausages, turning occasionally, until they are browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer to indirect heat or a 350-degree F oven until cooked through, about 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the beans and about 1/4 cup of the stout gravy.

Serve the cooked sausages with the beans, whipped potatoes, stout gravy, and root vegetable chips.