I invented a stew for this evenings meal, and it was delicious! I combined a classic Belgian stew (lots of beer) and Belgian style potatoes with Lancashire pork sausages and barley. Apt for a half Belgian/Brit! Serves two.

For the Stew

• 6 pork sausages cut into chunks
• 1 large carrot, chopped into chunks
• 1 large onion, chopped roughly
• 3/4 of a pint of beer of your choice
• Chicken stock
• Parsley, sage, thyme
• 40g pearl barley

For the Belgian potatoes

• 6 small potatoes, peeled
• A huge lump of salted butter
• Chicken stock cube

Method

Bring the barley to the boil in a small amount of water and then drain and leave in cold water until later. Sauté the sausage, carrot and onions and add in the beer and barley. Judge how much extra chicken stock to add, you can always top it up later. You don't want the stew to dry out, but you don't want to be left with a soup at the end.

Bring to the boil and add a sprinkling of herbs and black pepper. Cover with a lid and boil for an hour. In the last 25 minutes, boil the potatoes in chicken stock as if you were to mash them - so they fall apart completely when you put your fork in them. Drain and toss with salted butter.

Serve with green beans fried in butter and black pepper.