Italian sausage pasta | Quick pasta recipes
I have to say that it's very rare I get sick of a recipe, but let me tell you folks I have been eating this dish almost daily for the past week in order to get it right! So at the moment, I don't even want to look at another blinking sausage again! That being said, it is really REALLY good eating.
I love Italian sausages, they bring so much flavour to anything you cook with them. They have a pungent garlic and fennel flavour which really gives your taste buds a tingle. However, it's not always easy to get hold of Italian sausages - well here in the UK at least - so I developed a recipe that gives you a similar flavour without having to actually make your own sausages. If you can get hold of good Italian sausages though, use those and skip straight to the cooking method. If you are going to do it this way, then please PLEASE use good quality pork sausages, with at least 95% pork content. One of the great characteristics of Italian sausages is they are very meaty and have lots of texture, which you won’t get from cheap pasty bangers! It's also important to watch your salt and pepper. Most pre-made sausages are already seasoned, so as a tip, I wouldn't add any salt to the mixture until you have fried a small piece off and tasted it, then adjust the salt if you need to..
To make my Italian sausage pasta you will need:
6 high quality pork sausages
2 + 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds
1 + 1/2 tsp of coriander seeds
1 + 1/2 tsp of oregano plus extra for the sauce
1 medium white or red onion
A large handful of baby spinach leaves
1 x 400g can of chopped tomatoes
About 1/2 bottle of red wine (don't worry kids the alcohol burns off)
A few table spoons of parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper (add more if you want it hotter)
3 cloves of garlic minced
About 250g of rigatoni pasta or whatever pasta you like
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
2 bay leaves
Salt & pepper
Olive oil for cooking