Sausage Pasta with Fennel and Chili

This is one of my favourite pasta dishes. It's bursting with so many different flavours. There's the anise you get from the fennel, heat from the chili flakes, sweetness from the cherry tomatoes, and the caramelization from the sausage. All these beautiful flavours are brought together into one dish with a touch of cream and then garnished with parsley. You can use pretty much any kind of pasta with this dish, but I recommend penne, fusilli, or shells so you get maximum sauce with each mouthful. I've made this many times and I think this is my yummiest version yet!

 What you'll need: fresh sausages, pasta (I ended up using mini shells instead of this one pictured here because Boyfriend said it looked like maggots...), parsley, cherry tomatoes

 What you'll need: fennel seeds, black pepper, oregano, chili flakes

Bash up the chili flakes and fennel seeds to release their flavours

Squeeze the sausages out of their skins and break them up in the pan.

Keep frying and breaking the meat up until it resembles mince.

Add the bashed-up fennel seeds and chili flakes and cook on a medium heat until the meat becomes crisp, golden brown and slightly caramelized. Take your time with this step. It is essential that the sausage is browned nicely (not burnt!) and has rendered most of its oil. That's how the deep flavours develop.

Add in cherry tomatoes, cooked pasta and a touch of cream. Mix until the sauce has thickened and coats the pasta evenly.

Garnish with chopped parsley.

Sausage Pasta with Fennel and Chili

For 2

Ingredients

1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 fresh Italian sausages
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup cream
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
150g pasta
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped

Method

1. Bash up the fennel seeds and the chili flakes in a pestle and mortar or in a seed grinder.
2. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins onto the pan, breaking it up with a wooden spoon.
3. Fry for a few minutes until the meat starts to colour and the fat has rendered slightly. Break up the meat more until it resembles minced meat.
4. Add the fennel seeds and chili and cook on a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the meat becomes crisp, golden brown and slightly caramelized.
5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package instructions until al dente. When done, drain the pasta, reserving some of the pasta water.
6. Add in the oregano into the sausage, and pour in the white wine. Allow it to reduce a little.
7. Add the halved tomatoes and cream and cook until the tomatoes begin to soften, around 2 minutes. Season.
8. Add the cooked pasta and toss with the sausage mixture until the sauce has coated the pasta evenly. Add the reserved pasta water to loosened up the sauce if needed.
9. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's Proper Bloke's Sausage Fusilli

Grilled Sardines and Tuscan Bread Salad Part 2

This is the perfect summer salad and a great accompaniment to the grilled sardines. Panzanella is a Tuscan salad made with crusty bread and tomatoes. The addition of feta and roasted red peppers gives it a Mediterranean flair. The original recipe called for anchovies in the dressing, but I didn't have any on hand so I just added a tiny bit of sea salt. The dressing came out perfect. I really liked this salad because it was super easy to make and very delicious. The sweet cherry tomatoes went well with the fragrant basil/balsamic dressing, and the creamy tangy feta was a boost of flavour. The only thing I didn't like was how the toasted ciabatta absorbed the sauce quickly and became soggy. When I make this salad again, I will be sure to add the ciabatta last. Enjoy!

Oops the pancetta was for the sardines, but here are the main components for this salad: feta, roasted red peppers, capers, cherry tomatoes and ciabatta. 

Blend together a clove of garlic, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, spring onion, basil and 3-4 cherry tomatoes. The original recipe used 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, but it was such a waste of the beautiful tomatoes, so I used only 3. It was enough to create a dressing-like consistency. 

I followed the original recipe and added the toasted ciabatta before the tomatoes. The bread absorbed a lot of the sauce and became soggy real fast. I have altered the recipe below to reflect this.

Recipe - adapted from Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals 

For 2

Ingredients

½ small ciabatta loaf

1 clove garlic

extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 cups mixed color cherry tomatoes, halved

½ bunch spring onion, ends trimmed

½ bunch fresh basil

1 tablespoon capers

1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, cut into 1-inch chunks

Handful feta cheese

Method

1. Cut the ciabatta into 1 inch thick slices and toast them on both sides on a pan.
2. Peel the garlic and put into a blender or food processor with 1 tablespoon olive oil, balsamic, 3-4 cherry tomatoes, spring onions and basil. Blend until it becomes smooth. Pour into a large serving bowl.
3. Halve the remaining tomatoes and add to the bowl, along with the capers and peppers. Toss.
4. Tear the toasted ciabatta into thumb-sized pieces into the bowl and toss once only to coat. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil to finish.
5. Garnish with torn basil leaves and feta.
6. Serve immediately with the grilled sardines.

Grilled Sardines with Tuscan Bread Salad Part 1

I'm all about weeknight dinners that are fast and hassle-free. Bonus points if they are healthy and nutritious! This recipe was taken from Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals. The book had some amazing recipes (and beautiful photographs), but I was skeptical about how fast a home cook could make these meals. For me, the whole process (sardines plus salad) took about 30 minutes, between prepping the sardines and vegetables, blending sauces and taking photos of everything. But nonetheless, super fast meal! I will share with you the Grilled Sardines first, and the Tuscan Bread Salad in another post. When I made this meal, I dealt with the sardines first, and started on the salad when the sardines were in the oven. The two dishes were done pretty much at the same time. 

I forgot to buy chilis at the market but luckily we had some growing in a pot outside our home! However they weren't fully grown yet and were super tiny. I decided to add them in anyway.

Baby chilis :)

The sauce consisted of spring onions, parsley, salt, olive oil, lemon juice, and chilis. For those who hate parsley, you will be glad to know that this sauce came out light and citrusy. The parsley was not overpowering.

Spread the mixture on a pan just large enough for the sardines and lay the sardines skin side up. Sprinkle the pancetta around. You can omit the pancetta, but using just a tiny bit won't do too much damage! It adds a nice smoky flavour and crunch to the dish.

After a quick 8 minutes, the sardines will be nice and crispy on top, moist and flaky on the bottom. I served the sardines just like that in the pan with the beautiful green sauce.

Verdict: I will definitely make these sardines again, but with regular sized chilis. My dish was missing a bit of heat. 

Recipe - adapted from Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals

For 2

Ingredients

4 spring onions (tops and white ends removed)

½ a fresh red chilli

½ bunch of fresh parsley

½ teaspoon fennel seeds

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt to taste

6 fresh sardines, heads removed, scaled and butterflied

Handful of cubed pancetta

Method

1. Set your oven grill onto high.
2. Put the spring onions, chilli, parsley, fennel, lemon juice, salt and olive oil in a processor, and blend until it forms a paste.
3. Rub the paste onto a baking tray and lay the sardines on top, skin side up.
4. Dot the pancetta throughout the sardines.
5. Grill until golden and crispy, about 8 minutes.