Pasta is my go-to comfort food. I think I was Italian in a former life. It's not a super attractive looking dish but what it lacks in appearance, it makes up for in taste. You could make this in a saucepan but the vegetables when roasted have a much better depth of flavour, particularly the garlic. Garlic roasted is sweet and juicy. So good. This has a bit of a spicy kick to it but you can leave out the chilli and it won't diminish the flavour. You could also add some white wine to the sauce if you had some leftover. Just reduce it down with the stock.
Serves 4
Ingredients
6 good quality sausages. I used a spicy Cumberland.
240g rigatoni pasta
1 small, red, yellow & green pepper chopped into chunky pieces
4 garlic cloves
2 small red onions, chopped into chunky pieces
3 sprigs of thyme
1 tsp. chilli flakes
4 tbsp. olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil
75 ml stock
2 shallots, finely minced
1 clove garlic, minced
150ml crème fraiche
1 red chilli, minced
1 sprig of thyme, leaves removed
Salt & pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Heat a frying pan and add 2 tbsp. of olive oil. Brown the sausages in the pan and transfer to an oven dish. You don't really have to do this but the sausages look a bit sickly if you don't.
Add the garlic (in skins), onions, peppers, thyme, chilli and coat with 2 tbsp. olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover to keep warm and set aside.
Boil your pasta according to the packets instructions. Drain and toss in some oil.
Using the pan you had already. Heat it again and add the 2 tbsp. olive oil. Depending on how fatty your sausages were you may not need it all. Add the shallots and thyme and sauté.
Add the garlic and chilli and fry for a minute of two just to release the aromas.
Add in the stock and allow to reduce slightly.
Take the pan off the heat and slowly add the crème fraiche stirring to prevent it splitting. Season with salt and pepper.
Chop the cooked sausages into chunky pieces and stir into the sauce.
Squeeze the roasted garlic into the pan with the sauce and stir.
Add the roasted peppers and onions.
Finally stir in the pasta and you are ready to serve it up.
Boun appetito