Sausage and Garlic Pasta

I stumbled across this recipe from a Nigel Slater book. The picture caught my attention first followed by the ease of making the dish. The original recipe calls for fresh thyme and no sausage although I think he does mention that you can add sausage or chorizo to the pasta.

I normally strip the sausage meat from the skin and break the sausage up into bite size pieces before pan frying them but today I bought the wrong sausages so I just sliced them instead. Any flavored sausage works well although I do try to avoid heavily herbs sausages as they can take the flavor away from the fresh herbs in the pasta sauce.

You also want to try to use a pasta that can hold the sauce. Pasta shells and penne would work well unlike tagaletelli or linguine where the sauce will slip off. I make this recipe by eye so the recipe below only gives an approximate amount of ingredients, so go with your gut feeling

Sausage and Garlic Pasta (serves 2-3)

2 Medium Garlic Bulbs

2 Cups Pasta (Fusilli)

1 Cup Half and half

2-3 Sausages

1Tbsp of finely chopped fresh Oregano

Salt and Pepper

Oil

Firstly you will need to roast the garlic bulbs. Place the garlic onto a piece of foil. Sprinkle with Oil and seal the foil around the garlic. Roast in a pre heated oven at 350 for approx 30 minutes or until the garlic is soft. When roasted alllow to cool before squeezing out all the garlic from the cloves.. Meanwhile strip the sausages from their skin and fry off bite size pieces in a skillet. Drain off any fat and remove the sausage. Over a medium heat add the roasted garlic to the skillet and some of the cream. Mash the garlic with the back of the spoon and combine with the cream. Simmer until the sauce gets thicker and keep adding the cream until you get the right consistency and enough sauce.(The longer you simmer it for the thicker it will become). Season with salt and pepper and add the oregano and the sausage. Stir to combine. Cook the pasta until al dente and add to the skillet and coat well in the sauce. Serve immediately alongside a crisp salad. Sprinkle wit Parmesan cheese if desired.

Spaghetti Sauce

I apologize for the delay in my blog posts. Life has taken over and cooking has taken a back step. It is difficult to plan a future, work extra hours and have time for family and continue to (apparently) have a life!!! Prior to this weekend just gone I worked 10 shifts out of 13 and managed to sleep 24 hours within that time frame and yes I just about managed to function. Ian too was working long hours spending day after day completing his inventory, which seamed and probably felt like an eternity. We were once again like ships passing in the night. For most of the time we ate take out which consisted of pizza x 2, Chinese x 2 and whatever junk we could get our little hands on. The only thing that kept us going was the long weekend where we had booked a 3 night stay on the Sunshine coast. We stayed at The Ruby Lake resort and it was wonderful. The resort was run by an Italian family and every need was catered for. The best part was that they ran an Italian restaurant, where all the produce was grown and sourced locally. The food was to die for. Fresh seafood, pasta, salads, tender meats, you name it nothing could be faulted. Rarely do Ian and I  have a three course meal, but for that weekend we had three. 

Ruby Lake resort make the best pasta sauce I have ever had in my life. On return from our trip I thought I would try and give it a go myself. There was definitely lots of garlic in the sauce and some pureed onions, so that is where I started. Three garlic cloves were crushed and one medium onion minced.  As I do not own a mixer, my knife went into overdrive and so did my tear ducts, but all I was thinking about was the finished result. I kept this sauce simple, normally I'm adding balsamic vinegar and sugar, but not this time. Once the onions and garlic sweated off, in went 1/2 large can of crushed tomatoes, some salt and pepper, bay leaves and enough water to loosen the sauce. A dash of milk was also added to mellow the sauce, a tip I learned from Nigella Lawson.  This was all simmered together on a low heat for around an hour. It turned our perfect. I have no real photos to show you (apart from it being in the jar) as I am planning on making spaghetti on Saturday as a quick easy dinner after work. Photos will then be added.

Spaghetti Sauce

Olive Oil

1 medium onion minced

3 garlic clove crushed and minced

4 Bay leaves

1/2 Large can Crushed Tomatoes

1/4 Cup water

1/4 Cup Milk

Salt & Pepper

In a large skillet or pan heat up a small amount of olive oil. Add the onions and sweat until translucent, (you may want to add a small drop of water if the the pan becomes too dry) then add the garlic and soften. Pour in half the can of tomatoes, and add salt and pepper to taste and the bay leaves. Add the water and milk and mix the ingredients until combined. Then simmer over a low heat for approx 1 hour. If the sauce is too thick add some more water or milk. Remove the bay leaves. Serve with pasta and sprinkle parmesan overtop. Its that simple and oh so very tasty....