Sarah Millican's Tuscan sausage & tomato pasta
From-scratch sausage pasta with fennel, chilli, oregano and basil.
4 servings
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 bunch of fresh basil (30g)
- olive oil
- 4 quality Italian sausages (250g in total)
- 1 heaped teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano, ideally the flowering kind
- 1 pinch of dried chilli flakes
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 x 400g tins of quality plum tomatoes
- 300g dried penne
- 40g Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
- extra virgin olive oil
Method
- Peel the onion, carrot and celery and finely chop with the basil stalks (keep the leaves).
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Squeeze the sausagemeat out of its skins into the pan, breaking it up, and fry for a few minutes. Add the fennel seeds, oregano, chilli flakes and rosemary leaves.
- Stir in the chopped veg and basil stalks, grate in the garlic, and cook for about 10 mins until softened.
- Add the balsamic and let it bubble down. Crush in the tomatoes by hand, add 1 tin's worth of water and the larger basil leaves, bring to the boil, then simmer on low for about 20 mins until thickened.
- About 10 mins before the end, cook the pasta in boiling salted water to the packet instructions. Drain, saving a mugful of the water.
- Toss the pasta into the sauce, loosening with cooking water if needed, and season. Off the heat, grate in the Parmesan, scatter over the remaining basil and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Nice with lemony rocket and more Parmesan.
From Jamie Oliver, Jamie Oliver