Need advice from meat eaters please!

I've got some friends coming over for lunch tomorrow, to cut a long story short I was going to make a fish bake but now I'm not (the fish I ordered from sainsbury's didn't come!) so now I'm going to do something with sausages as everyone is going to be a meat eater except me. So anyway instead of just the usual bangers and mash I thought I'd do a sausage casserole.  The sausages I have are Toulouse style, with a lot of garlic in them.  Would this work in a casserole using herbs and chopped tomatoes (which is what I was going to use for the fish bake!!) or would it be better to use stock? And should I leave the sausages whole or chop them up?

Yes Toulouse would work very well with those ingredients..well depending on what herbs..as you know toulouse are quite herby anyways...

With the sauages I tend to either use them as I would mince and remove the casings... or whole.  I also serve them on top  lentils or beans quite often.  You can also do the casserole in reverse by using potatoes thinly sliced... make a bed of the potatoes, several layers thick... add thin slices of onions if you want, a bit of garlic... and a few tomatoes on top... then add liquid of your choice maybe a1/4 way up... I use white wine...then put the sausages on top (you can par boil the potatoes too which might not be a bad idea as sausage cooks quite fast -then slice)...

It's really really good!

Or do it all in reverse...
You can add in peppers and onions too in the casserole and cover with smash.

That sounds good Pam thank you! I think I'll do it with the potatoes on the bottom and use tomatoes & red wine, and do a veggie version for me.   How long does the whole thing take to cook if you have parboiled the potaotes? 1/2 hour?

Par boil for about 5 minutes and about 30 mins in the oven... oh and I forgot.. add a good drizzle of olive oil too.. you can also add a bit of parsley for colour. 

It's a very Catalan way to serve fish and really any roast meat..works with chicken parts and even on it's own with no meat.  The Catalans use slices of large tomatoes or some salad ones whole...

There is a more elobrate one which can be done on the stove top or in the oven called "Suquet". If you google "suquet catalan" it pulls up a few recipes. 

It sounds so good thanks again! I'll let you know how it turns out.

Everyone was really impressed with the sausage casserole even though I ended up taking diabolic liberties with your recipe Pam!! The pan I was using wasn't really deep enough to have the potatoes on the bottom so I decided to do a separate dish of scalloped potaotes.  Then I made a sauce for the sausages - sauteed sliced red onions, then chucked in some red wine - when that was reduced added tinned chopped tomatoes and herbs (mixed herbs & bay leaves) -  also green beans and dried peppers - slathered that all over the sausages and bunged it in the oven for about 1/2 hour - voila!