A handy, good-value mid-week pasta dish, which came from the lovely Jamie Oliver. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
- 2 heaped teaspoons fennel seeds
- 2 dried red chillies, crumbled
- olive oil
- 4 coarse Italian or Cumberland sausages
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 4 handfuls of spinach leaves, washed
- 320 g fusilli
- 1 lemon
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small handful Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for serving
Instructions:
- Bash up the fennel seeds and chillies in a pestle and mortar, then put to one side.
- Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan on a medium heat.
- Cut open the sausage skins and squeeze the meat into the pan.
- Stir it around with a wooden spoon, breaking it up into small pieces so it resembles coarse mince.
- Fry for a few minutes until the meat starts to colour and the fat has started to render out.
- Add the bashed up fennel seeds and chillies to the meat, and cook on a medium heat for around 10 minutes until the meat is crisp, dark golden brown and caramelised.
- Turn the heat down to low.
- Put a large saucepan of salted water on to boil.
- Add the garlic cloves to the water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes before adding the spinach.
- Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the spinach has wilted, then fish out all the spinach and the garlic cloves with a slotted spoon, and put it all into a food processor.
- Add the fusilli to the water, bring it back to the boil and cook according to the packet instructions (usually 10-12 minutes).
- Meanwhile, blitz the cooked garlic and spinach in the food processor, then add a glug of olive oil, a grating of lemon zest and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- When the pasta is al dente, drain it in a colander, reserving some of the cooking water.
- Put the pasta back in the saucepan and add a splash of the cooking water and a squeeze of lemon juice. Gently stir the green sauce into the pasta to coat it then immediately divide the pasta between your bowls.
- Top with the crisp sausage meat and a grating of Parmesan cheese, and serve.
