Sausage, leek and fennel pasta

Waste not want not! I realised that I used half a packet of sausages in the last recipe I posted, so I thought it would be remiss of me not to give you another recipe to use the rest of the pack! This is another quick and simple pasta recipe which is great for a mid-week meal. Sausages and fennel seeds go great together, the fennel seeds offering little pops of flavour, added chilli flakes provide a gentle heat.

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 3 sausages (or the rest of your pack of Debbie & Andrews gluten free ones!)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 6 spring onions, finely chopped (keep the white parts separate from the green)
• 1 large leek, finely chopped
• 75ml white wine
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 egg
• 150g pasta (I used Juvela gluten free fusilli)
• Handful of grated Parmesan
• Salt and pepper

Put a frying pan on a medium heat. Put a slit in the sausages and squeeze out the sausage meat into the pan. As it fries, break it up with a wooden spoon, moving it around so it browns evenly. This should take around 4 or 5 mins. Add the fennel seeds and chilli flakes, followed by the clove of garlic and whites of the spring onions. Now add the chopped leek (you may need a little oil depending on how much fat was in the sausages). Keep stirring to partly cook the leeks and onions for another 3 or 4 mins. Now add the white wine and reduce the heat to a simmer whilst you get the pasta on. Drop the pasta into salted boiling water and cook for 8 - 10 mins or according to the packet. Whilst your leeks and pasta cook, you can make the sauce. Simply spoon the sour cream into a small bowl and whisk in the egg. When your pasta is cooked, drain and add leek mixture and bring it all together. You can now add the green parts of your spring onions so they give a little texture. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the sour cream mix. Keep stirring to distribute evenly and then season with freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle over the Parmesan.

Sorry - we ate this one too quickly for a photo! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Vodka, chilli, sausage arrabiata with spaghetti

I don't often blog recipes, usually because we're working through a growing mountain of recipe books and magazines, so usually, I can't take credit. I can't wholly take credit for this one either though. It's inspired by Jamie Oliver's vodka arrabiata in his America cookbook. I've made a few tweaks though and I think this version tastes even better! Plus an instagram follower asked me to blog it, so here we go:

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 3 sausages (I used Debbie and Andrews gluten free ones)
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 2 red chillies, finely chopped (de-seed if you don't like it hot!)
• 2 anchovy fillets
• 150g cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 30ml vodka
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• Small bunch of parsley, stalks finely chopped and leaves picked
• 150g spaghetti (I used Juvela gluten free spaghetti)

Put a frying pan on a medium heat. Put a slit in the sausages and squeeze out the sausage meat into the pan. As it fries, break it up with a wooden spoon, moving it around so it browns evenly. This should take around 4 or 5 mins. Next, add the red onion, chilli and red pepper (add a little oil if needed) and soften for a further 3 mins. Now add the anchovy fillets, break these up with the spoon, then add your tomato purée. Now it's time to add the vodka, cherry tomatoes and parsley stalks. Reduce the heat to simmer whilst you cook your pasta. Drop your pasta into a large pan of boiling water and boil for 8 - 10 mins or according to the packet. Add a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water from the pasta to the tomato sauce just to give it the right consistency. When the pasta is cooked, drain and add the pasta to the tomato and sausage sauce and mix well. Spoon into bowls and sprinkle over the parsley.

Enjoy!