The trick to this recipe is good quality tinned or bottled tomatoes. I used tinned cherry tomatoes, they add a creamy, rich texture which other cheaper tined tomatoes don't live up to.
Recipe for 2 portions
1 tinned/bottled tomatoes
2 Sausages (I used turkey, as I am not a big pork fan)
1 tsp fennel seeds
Salt & pepper
pinch of sugar or 1/2tsp honey
half a handful of flat parsley leaves
Parmesan or piccorino to taste (or a mix of both)
Pasta - spaghetti, linguine or fusilli it's up to you.
Drizzle of oil.
- Put on your pasta water.
- Chop up the sausage into bite size pieces.
- If you're using whole fennel seeds use a pestle & mortar to grind up the seeds to a dust.
- Drizzle a tiny bit of oil into a thick bottomed pan, add the sausage & fennel, fry till the sausage has gone golden but not completely cooked through.
- Season with salt & pepper, taste.
- Add the sugar or honey, this bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes in the sauce.
- Allow to cook on low heat for 10-13min, stirring in between, till the sauce has become thick & rich.
- Taste. Add seasoning if needed.
- Plate & sprinkle generously with your choice of cheese.
I love fennel in sausages, cooked (where it sort of disappears in size and flavor), and raw in salads. I get fennel sausages at Costco where they make them behind the meat counter. I use them in an American-style pasta sauce, thick and heavy with meat and vegetables, rather than thin as it would be in Italy. I add mushrooms and cut up picked artichoke hearts (also from Costco) and can eat it without the pasta as a veggie dish. But three cheers for fennel.
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