Apple Hotpot with Harlem Shamble's Sausages

Fall has arrived and we are craving more hearty foods as the temperatures drop. Fortunately our local butcher Harlem Shambles makes the most delicious sausages and we adapted Nigel Slater's hotpot recipe to make this delicious hotpot:

For the recipe:

• 125 grams dry cannellini beans
• 2 small onions
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
• 1 pinch fennel seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 pork sausages, cut into short links
• 1 large apple
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 glass of Madeira wine
• 500 grams of stock
• 1 tablespoon grain mustard

Soak the beans overnight in cold water. Drain and bring to a boil in fresh water for about 40 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Peel and cut the onions into thick slices.  Place them in a pan with olive oil over low medium heat and stir occasionally until lightly coloured.  Add the garlic, fennel seeds, and bay leaf and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Brown the sausages on all sides.  In the meantime, peel, core and cut the apples in quarters.  
Add the onions back to the pan along with the apples and flour and cook for 5 minutes. 
Pour in the Madeira and stock and stir.  Add half the mustard, season and simmer for 25 minutes.
Add the beans, season and cook for another 25 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. 
Stir in the rest of the mustard and eat!