Sausage Pasta for the Whole Family

I'd always been really nervous about cooking sausage pasta, too many memories of student meals made with value sausages but I was inspired by the Salsiccia Pasta at my local Italian Caffe to give it a go, this isn't an attempt to copy the recipe and anyway it's not a patch on the pasta Alison D'Angelo sells at Caffe Italia, but I hope she wouldn't be embarrassed by my efforts!

Sausage Pasta - Easily makes enough sauce for 1 adult and 1 toddler.

Ingredients

Approx 200g, 7oz Sausages (use garlicky Italian ones if you can get them, I couldn't, so I used good quality pork sausages)
2 Cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp Olive oil
1 Red pepper (capsicum)
Approx 250g, 9oz Passata
A couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary
A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley
A couple of sprigs of fresh oregano
2 tbsp double (heavy) cream
1 tsp pesto

Pasta and parmesan to serve.

Method

Before you want to start (you can do this hours before if you like), put the red pepper under a grill (broiler) at the highest setting and grill until the skin starts to blacken.  Put in a dish and cover with cling film (saran wrap) for a few minutes then push off the thin skin.  Scrape out the seeds and stalk and chop.  This can be stored in the fridge for up to a day.

When ready to eat, heat the oil in a pan, push the sausage out of their skins into large lumps and add the sausage and garlic to the pan, fry for a couple of minutes.  Depending on what kind of pasta and whether it's fresh or dried, you might want to put that on to cook around now.

Once the sausage is starting to cook and the garlic softening, add the passata, pepper and the rosemary.  Simmer for 5-8 minutes or until the sausage is cooked and the sauce is thickening.  Add in the cream, remaining herbs and pesto and simmer for a couple of minutes more.

Serve with cooked pasta and a sprinkling of parmesan if liked.

All gone!

A hit with both me and my 3 year old and really quick to make.

I've linked this here: