I'm not even sure I should be revealing this recipe as it could well be my undoing. This pasta recipe is my signature dish, the one everyone requests when they come over for dinner, the one I'm asked to bring along to other people's houses for dinner, the one I turn to when I need comfort food.
It's that good
But I do feel it's time to share this with the rest of the world, and spread the love. Please have a go, give it some love, and let me know if you enjoy it. You will want to play around with the balance of chilli so try a couple of variations with more or less. If you make a sauce that's too hot for you more cream and cheese can mellow it down, or you always add more if you like a bit of spice!
Serves 4 people
who don't mind eating what looks like an obscene amount of parmesan cheese
Ingredients
- 6 pork sausages (you can get Italian flavoured ones that work well)
- 1 medium red onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- Chilli flakes - around half a teaspoon, or half a dried chilli
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 100ml red or white wine
- 100g parmesan cheese, grated
- 100ml single cream
- quarter of a nutmeg, grated
- Salt and Pepper
- Olive oil
- 320g pasta (I usually use penne but not today)
If you have a flame proof casserole dish use this as you can transfer the sauce to the oven. If not the hob will be fine too.
Method
1. Peel the onions and garlic and put them into a food processor with the chilli. This will give you a nice fine chop and stops the garlic burning when it goes into the pan later.
2. Heat a medium saucepan/casserole on the hob on a nice high heat and add a good glug of oil.
3. Squeeze the sausages out of their skins and crumble into the pan.
4. Once the sausages have browned at the edges, add in the chopped onion, chilli, garlic and fennel seeds. Lower the heat so that the onion softens but doesn't catch.
5. After about 20 minutes the onions will be soft. Now add in the wine and scrape all the bits that might have caught on the bottom of the pan whilst it bubbles away.
6. Add in the tomatoes and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then either simmer on the hob or transfer to an oven at 180 degrees. Give the sauce at least an hour, stirring every now and again.
7. Heat a large pan of water and boil the pasta.
8. If your sauce has been in the oven, remove it now.
Yes, this does look like a lot of cheese, but it is so good................ |
9. Stir in the cream, cheese and nutmeg. Taste and adjust if needed.
10. Drain the pasta and stir in through the sauce.
11. Serve with a final flourish of cheese and pepper.
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