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Creamy Sausage Pasta

creamy sausage pasta in a beige bowl covered in a grating of cheese.
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5 from 3 reviews

This creamy sausage pasta really makes the fennel sausages the star of the show so use the best sausages you can get your hands on with a high pork content.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 400g fennel flavoured pork sausage (usually around 6 sausages)
  • 150ml white wine
  • 150ml single cream
  • 200g rigatoni
  • 120g pecorino Romano
  • Salt & black pepper

Instructions

  1. In a large pan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and then crumble the sausage meat into the pan. Break it up as you brown it, don’t worry if it catches the bottom of the pan - those gnarly caramelised bits add flavour. This should take around 10 minutes.
  2. Add the chopped garlic and an extra splash of olive oil. Fry for a minute further. The sausages should be golden brown.
  3. Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine and mix together. Use a wooden spoon to get all the bits off the bottom of the pan as that is all great flavour.
  4. Meanwhile, cook your pasta in salted water until al dente.
  5. Once the pasta is nearly done, add a cup full of pasta water to the sausage sauce and half of the cheese. Then stir through the cream. It might seem a little loose but the starchy pasta will absorb it all.
  6. Add the cooked pasta to the sausage sauce and toss really well to coat all the pieces, add more pecorino and toss again. Taste and season.
  7. Serve with more pecorino and lots of black pepper

Notes

Scroll up for a helpful step by step guide on how to make creamy sausage pasta.

To store: Leftovers can be transferred to an airtight container and placed in the fridge for up to 3 days.

To reheat: The best way to reheat is in a saucepan over medium heat with an added knob of butter. Stir well and heat gently until it's saucy and melted again. Or the microwave works well too. Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes until piping hot. 

To freeze: I don't love freezing this pasta as I find it turns grainy once defrosted. 

Make ahead: This is a pasta dish that is best made fresh as the pasta water is a key part of the sauce. If you want to get ahead, you could fry off the sausages a few hours ahead and then cover and set aside. When ready to cook, bring back to temperature, fry the garlic off and continue as normal.

Wine hack: I would really recommend the wine here, it cooks out so it doesn’t have a strong alcohol taste and it really rounds out the dish. If you use 150ml here, you’ll have a few glasses left in the bottle to have with dinner. If you can’t get through a full bottle of wine, I pour anything left over into an ice cube tray or a sandwich bag and freeze it. I then throw it into the pan when I next need wine to cook with. If you cannot use wine, use some chicken stock and a good tbsp of lemon juice or white wine vinegar.

Fennel sausages: If you can't find fennel sausages, add a teaspoon of crushed fennel seeds when adding the garlic.

Browning sausages: to get the best golden colour when frying the sausages, you need to make sure they remain in contact with the base of the pan for this to build up. This means you shouldn't move it around too much when it's in the pan. Contact = colour.

Pasta water: make sure you reserve a mug of pasta water at the end. This is key for a creamy and rich sauce as the starch in the pasta water binds it all together. 

Removing the casing from sausages: This can seem a bit of a faff but gets easier once you have the hang of it. You need to make sure your sausages are fridge cold (trust me, it will make it much easier). Then all you have to do is score the skin down the length with a sharp knife, then pull away the sides.

Find it online: https://desertislanddishes.co/creamy-sausage-pasta/