Creamy Sausage and Courgette Rigatoni

When each new season arrives, I feel a deep urge to develop a new sausage pasta recipe. This summer, the winner was absolutely this courgette-y number. Sweet, soft baby courgettes softened in sausage fat with fennel seeds and garlic truly makes such a special pasta sauce, that can easily be whipped up at haste on a hot summer’s day. Equally, the cream and parmesan are really very soothing ingredients, so this would make a great dinner on a day where we were struck with a midsummer rainstorm, as we were on the day that I cooked this for the first time. Basically, this dish would be a great thing to cook up anytime between June and September, no matter the weather.

Serves 2

6 baby courgettes

1 clove of garlic

3 sausages

200g rigatoni

1 tsp fennel seeds

½ tsp chilli flakes

1 sprig of rosemary

100ml double cream

½ lemon

30g Parmesan

salt, pepper and olive oil

1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water up to a boil.

2. Cut your courgettes into 2mm thick discs. Peel and finely slice your garlic.

3. Get a saute pan over a medium heat, and add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Squeeze in the meat from your sausages, discarding the skins, then fry the meat for 5 minutes, breaking it down into chunks with the side of your wooden spoon. Once it is crispy and tender, get your pan off the heat and remove the sausage bits with a slotted spoon. Save them for later.

4. Add another 2 tbsp of olive oil to the pan, then turn the heat on to low. Add your garlic, fennel seeds and chilli flakes, and cook these very gently for a minute.

5. Pour your rigatoni into the boiling water, and cook it until it is al dente.

6. Tip your courgettes into the garlic pan along with your rosemary sprig and 50ml of water, then cook them gently for 5 minutes, until they have just softened, but are still bright green.

7. Remove a mugful of pasta cooking water from the pot when it is nearly done. Pour in your cream and your sausage meat to the courgette pan, and bring the whole thing up to a simmer. Grate in most of your parmesan, then add a spalsh of your pasta cooking water. 

8. Drain your pasta in a colander, then tip it into the sauce pan. Give it a mix until you have a silky pasta sauce that coats each piece of rigatoni, adding more pasta water if you need to get the emulsion going.

9. Add the zest and juice of ½ a lemon, then season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.

10. Remove your rosemary sprig, then spoon your pasta into bowls. Top it with more parmesan and black pepper, then serve it up.