Pasta with Italian Sausage

Serves 2

I saw some amazing looking Italian sausages with fennel and chilli in M&S at the weekend. They were exactly what I needed for this dish. If you can’t find any decent Italian style sausages, use a good quality pork sausage instead and add a teaspoon of fennel seeds to the pan as you cook the meat.

This recipe is easily scaled up, and easy to make gluten-free.

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1 onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic finely sliced

2 large good-quality Italian-style sausages (ideally with fennel), taken out of their skins, and broken into small pieces (approx 240g) (gluten-free if required)

60g hard Italian cheese (parmesan, pecorino, Grana pardano) finely grated

1 lemon, zest only

150-200g pasta (gluten-free if required)

Step 1: Over a medium heat add a little olive oil to a frying pan. Cook for a few minutes and then add the garlic and small pieces of the sausage meat. Cook gently for about 10 minutes, until the sausage is cooked through and slightly golden, the onions and garlic are soft and have taken on a little colour but not browned.

Step 2: Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Once al dente transfer the pasta to the cooked sausage along with a ladleful of the pasta cooking water. Add the grated cheese and stir until the cheese has emulsified with the pasta water. Add a little more of the water if necessary, until the pasta has a thick glossy coating.

Divide between two plates and serve with some grated lemon zest over the top.