A robust, flavourful and comforting pasta dish that will be just right any time.
Aubergines are really tasty things which work very well indeed with spices and strong flavours. Here, a bit of chilli in the sauce gives this a bit of punch but most of the flavour hit will come from the sausages. This dish will be good with any decent-quality sausage, but to get the most out of it, try to get good quality Italian sausages from a good butcher or deli. They have a higher meat content and tend to be strongly flavoured with garlic, fennel and spices; well worth the effort of finding them, in my humblest of opinions.
The tomato sauce is made with tinned cherry tomatoes and no onion, to keep the whole dish a bit lighter and summery, but chopped, plum or fresh tomatoes would all taste good. I chose paccheri pasta because this is a chunky, knife-and-fork sort of a pasta dish that was just begging for some larger pasta, but fusilli or penne would work well.
Enjoy!
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Loading...Ingredients
- 6 good quality Italian sausages
- 2 cloves garlic
- 400g tin of cherry tomatoes
- Pinch of chilli flakes
- 250g paccheri pasta
- 1 medium aubergine
- A handful of basil leaves
- Salt, pepper, olive oil
Instructions
FIrst, fry the aubergine. Cut into large chunks, around 2cm thick and fry in hot oil. Be brave as they drink all the oil in the pan and don't keep adding more, or they will be soggy. Brown on both sides and turn out onto kitchen paper. Set aside for later, they will be added at the last minute so they don't go all mushy.
Next, cook the sausages in the same pan that you will make the sauce in. The oil from the sausages will flavour the whole dish. Cook until they are browned on all sides and set aside to cool.
Add more oil to the pan if needed and throw in the sliced garlic - make sure the pan isn't too hot or it will burn and become bitter. After 20 seconds or so, add the tin of cherry tomatoes. Rinse the can out with water and add that too.
Cut the cooked sausages into chunks and add to the sauce, along with a small pinch of chilli flakes. Allow to cook through on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions while the sauce is cooking. Reserve a few tablespoons of pasta water in a cup to add to the sauce - as always - and drain the pasta.
Tear the basil leaves and add to the sauce with the aubergine and the drained pasta. Mix well, turn off the heat and allow it to sit for a few minutes for the flavours to mingle.
Serve with a good grating of pecorino or parmesan.
Notes
Most supermarkets stock 'Toulouse' sausages, which will be a decent substitute if you can't get the Italian ones.
