Home Rigatoni with fennel sausage sauce
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Ingredients
- olive oil - 2½ tbsp
- Italian fennel sausages - 6 cut into 1.5cm-thick slices
- onion - 1 large peeled and chopped
- fennel bulb - 1 trimmed and roughly chopped; reserve any fronds to garnish
- smoky paprika - ½ tsp
- garlic - 1 clove, peeled and sliced
- fennel seeds - 2 tsp lightly toasted and then gently crushed
- red wine - 100ml
- chopped tomatoes - 400g tinned
- caster sugar - ½ tsp
- pitted black olives - 50g cut in half lengthways
- rigatoni - 500g
- pecorino - 30g roughly crumbled into 0.5cm pieces
- anchovy fillet - 1 rinsed and patted dry
- garlic - 1 clove, peeled and crushed
- olive oil - 60ml
- basil leaves - 50g torn
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Instructions
- Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large saute pan for which you have a lid.
- Add the sausage pieces and fry on a medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until golden-brown all over.
- Transfer the sausages to a plate, then add the onion and fennel to the hot pan and fry for 15 minutes, stirring once in a while, until soft and caramelised; if the pan goes a bit dry, add a teaspoon or so of extra oil.
- Stir in the paprika, garlic and half the fennel seeds, fry for two minutes more, then pour on the wine and boil for 30 seconds, to reduce by half.
- Add the tomatoes, sugar, 100ml water, the seared sausage and half a teaspoon of salt, cover and simmer for 30 minutes; remove the lid after 10 minutes, and cook until the sauce is thick and rich.
- Remove from the heat, stir through the olives and remaining fennel seeds and set aside until you’re ready to serve.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 12-14 minutes (or according to the instructions on the packet), until al dente.
- Meanwhile, reheat the sauce.
- Drain the pasta, return it to the pot, stir in a tablespoon of oil, then divide between the bowls.
- Put all the pesto ingredients except the basil in the small bowl of a food processor.
- Add a tablespoon of water and blitz to a rough paste.
- Add the basil, then blitz until just combined (the pesto has a much better texture if the basil is not overblended).
- Spoon over the ragù and top with a spoonful of pesto.
- Finish with a sprinkling of chopped fennel fronds, if you have any, and serve at once.