A basic pasta with tomato/meat sauce ought to be part of any home cooks repertoire. It’s easy to knock up and it can be tailored to whatever you like and with whatever you have.

From the same template as my casaracce with lamb sausage & baby kale recipe, this spaghetti dinner uses some fab little wild boar sausages I found at the supermarket. I love the taste of wild boar as it has a more gamey flavour, but if you’ve got your own favourite pork sausages, I’d say go with those. No rules, remember.

Many of us have that trusty bag of peas sitting in the freezer, so you can dive in and add some of those to this easy pasta. No need to defrost, either. That’s the beauty of frozen peas; they’re small enough to defrost in the cooking process.

I’ve used fresh parsley from our street community garden as it was sending up stems that were ready to flower. The leaves and tender thin stems are still useful in cooking, and at the same time slowing the parsley plants from going to seed. The thick stems are even good for a stock; so into the freezer they went, for another time.

Got fresh basil or fennel tops? Throw them in if you want. The flavour of the sauce will obviously change, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Print Recipe

Spaghetti, sausage, peas, chilli

A basic pasta with tomato/meat sauce ought to be part of any home cooks repertoire. So why not add this spaghetti dish?

Course

Main Dish

Cuisine

Italian

Servings

servings

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 clove garlic finely grated
• 1 tsp paprika flakes
• 350 g pork sausages
• 400 g tin tomatoes crushed
• ½ tin water
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Salt & black pepper to taste
• 250 g Spaghetti
• 1 bunch Parsley roughly chopped
• Parmesan cheese to garnish

Course Main Dish Cuisine Italian Servings servings Ingredients 3 tbsp virgin olive oil 1 medium onion chopped 1 clove garlic finely grated 1 tsp paprika flakes 350 g pork sausages 400 g tin tomatoes crushed ½ tin water 1 tsp chilli flakes 1 cup frozen peas Salt & black pepper to taste 250 g Spaghetti 1 bunch Parsley roughly chopped Parmesan cheese to garnish

Instructions

1. Squeeze the filling from each sausage and discard the casing. Break up the filling with your fingers and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in your favourite skillet or pan over a medium-high flame. Sauté the onion for 4-5 minutes, add the garlic, paprika and sausage filling and stir to break up the meat as it cooks until no longer raw.
3. Add the tomatoes, water, chilli, peas and seasoning. Allow to simmer for at least 15 minutes. The longer the better.
4. Meanwhile, have your pot of salted water on to boil as the sauce simmers. Cook the spaghetti for 8-10 minutes, or according to packet directions.
5. To serve, toss the chopped parsley over the sauce, drain the spaghetti and add it to the sauce. Stir through and serve garnished with more parsley and some parmesan cheese.

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