Pasta with Maltese Sausage, Fresh Fennel & Sundried Tomatoes
From Ainsley’s Taste of Malta, ITV
Wild fennel grows in abundance in Malta and Gozo and the locals make great use of its seeds, leaves and bulbs in their cooking. It’s a great match for pork and the two are often paired in Mediterranean cooking – with pasta, sausage and fennel being a popular dish in both Sicily and Malta. I’m using Maltese sausages which contain a blend of coriander seeds (an ingredient brought to the islands by the Moors) garlic and parsley. They’re quite difficult to get in the UK so try to use a good quality coarse sausage with plenty of flavour. I’ve added a few sun-dried tomatoes, a Maltese favourite, which add a lovely piquant bite to the creamy sauce. In Sicily they like to serve sausage pasta with casarecce yet in Malta you are just as likely to find it with penne – the choice is yours!
Method
Add a little drizzle of oil to a deep-sided frying pan and add the sausage meat. Fry over a medium-high heat until nicely browned, using a wooden spoon to break down the sausage pieces. Remove from the pan.
Heat the tablespoon of oil in the same pan, reduce the heat to medium and cook the onion and fresh fennel for 6 minutes until softened and just starting to colour. Add the garlic, fennel seeds, rosemary, and chilli flakes. Stir and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
Return the sausage to the pan, add the wine and allow to bubble away for a couple of minutes until reduced by half. Stir in the stock, a little salt and a good grind of pepper and reduce the heat. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a pan of well salted water until al dente.
Remove the lid from the sauce and stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and then add the cream. Cook gently for another 3-4 minutes, uncovered, to thicken. Check for seasoning.
Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta to the sauce and gently stir to coat over a gentle heat, adding a little pasta water as needed.
Serve in warmed pasta bowls topped with plenty of grated pecorino, freshly ground black pepper and the fennel fronds.
Ingredients
- 400g Maltese sausages or good quality coarse pork sausages (Lincolnshire work well), skinned, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil, plus a drizzle
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 small bulb of fennel with fronds, chopped, fronds reserved for garnish
- 2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
- 1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
- 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- ¼ - ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 125ml dry white wine
- 175ml hot chicken stock
- 400g casarecce, penne or similar short pasta
- 45g sun-dried or sun-blushed tomatoes in oil, drained, patted dry, chopped
- 175ml double cream
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Pecorino or Parmesan cheese, grated, to serve