Sausage and mash pie

I love a good sausage casserole and sausages on their own are losing their appeal (maybe I've had them too many times? They're so easy and tasty though!). I used to use the word tasty so much when I was younger that it became a family in-joke: "How was dinner, Jessie?", "very tasty!". Like all in-jokes, they only really work when you're in the moment. It looks particularly unfunny written down!
So I had this great idea to combine sausage and mash into one dish (and serve with vegetables), like a shepherd's pie. It is a bit more work but it's really tasty!

Sausage and mash pie
Serves 4

8–10 good quality sausages
1 small onion
1–2 garlic cloves
1 carrot

1/2 pint ale (my husband always keeps a good stock of bottled ale in the house)

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

2 tablespoons gravy powder
500g potatoes (I used Desiree)
Dash of milk

Put the sausages into a hot oven on a baking tray. Slice the onion thinly and add to a large pan with a little oil. Cook on a low heat for 10 minutes with the lid on to really soften the onion. (I actually used a cartouche - a piece of scrumpled up wet baking parchment or greaseproof paper - because I was feeling fancy, but it's probably not necessary in this case!)

Peel and chop up the potatoes and add to a pan of boiling water (I usually boil the kettle before I start cooking to speed up this stage).

Thinly slice (or crush) the garlic cloves and add to the onions along with the carrot, chopped into small pieces. Turn up the heat and add the ale. Let the alcohol boil off for a minute or two, then turn the heat down again. Add the caraway seeds. Add the gravy powder and as much water as is necessary to make a rich gravy.

Take the sausages out of the oven and chop into pieces (I find scissors and tongs works well here), straight into the onion-gravy pan.

Finish off the mash by draining the water off the potatoes, adding a dash of milk, salt and pepper and mashing.

Tip the sausage mix into a dish (or two, in my case) and spread the mash on top with a fork. Drizzle with olive oil (and garnish with a sprig of rosemary, if you like). Place back in the oven under the grill for 5 minutes.

Serve with runner beans from the garden! Or any other greens you have.