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 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.

Vancouver - Burgoo

Comfort food at its best! I am a huge fan of Burgoo. I've been to their Point Grey location four times and it gets better every time. Burgoo is like a high-end diner/bistro that serves classics like BLT and onion soup but with a contemporary flair. It is a relatively small restaurant but super cozy. The decor is mostly wood and there is a fireplace mounted on one wall. When you walk in, you are instantly greeted by the familiar scent of fondue. We were seated by the window (great for taking photos of food I recently learned) and I could feel the heater by my feet. It felt like I was in a log cabin somewhere in Switzerland where people come in to warm up with a decadent meal by the fireplace.  

Strawberry Lemonade: delicious chunks of sweet strawberries cut the sourness of the lemonade, making this a super refreshing drink (I get this every time I come! There's also an alcoholic version for those who want a little kick in their lemonade) 

Burgoo Biscuits: warm flaky scones with cheddar and parsley - great with butter

Decadent French Onion: roasted onions in rich beef broth with country-style croutons slow baked with gooey Gruyere, Emmenthal and Mozzarella - what sets this apart from other onion soups is that it comes with three different yummy cheeses and a lot of big crouton bits inside the soup, so it eats like a meal

Burgoo BLTCG: your classic BLT + Cheddar + Guacamole with house mayo served on toasted filone -  The guacamole adds a delightful creamy texture to the sandwich and the cheese ups the saltiness, which I love. The filone is toasted to perfection - definitely a must try!

I got their sandwich + salad combo with spinach salad: drizzled with thyme vinaigrette and topped with purple onions, apple slices, bacon bits and crumbled feta cheese - great textures, great salty flavors but I thought the vinaigrette tasted only like olive oil.

Other items I loved: Butternut Squash soup, Straight Up Tomato soup, Brie Fondue, Guacamole, Bruschetta

Note: Some of their menu items tend to change seasonally 

Verdict: Amazing comfort food, great atmosphere, but not recommended for those on a diet!