Recipe: Sausage and spinach pasta

A weeknight staple that is quick to cook but totally delicious.

Serves two

Ingredients:

• 200-300g spinach
• 2 sausages
• ½ tsp fennel seeds
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 1 large garlic clove
• 100ml white wine
• 50ml cream
• Dried pasta (approx. 140g)
• Parmesan to serve (optional)

Method:

1. Start by putting the water on to boil for the pasta. Then, empty the bag of spinach into a large frying pan and put the lid on and allow it to wilt. Once it’s cooked down to a fraction of the quantity, turn off the pan and place the spinach into a sieve and use the back of the spoon to squeeze out as much of the water as possible.  Chop the spinach as finely as you can.

2. In the same pan used for the spinach, heat up 1 tsp olive oil. Split the sausage skins and squeeze the meat into the pan. Use a wooden spoon to break up the meat and allow it to fry without stirring it too much, so that it gets nice and golden on each side. Add the fennel seeds, chilli flakes and grate the clove of garlic into the pan. Fry for a couple more minutes.

3. By now, the water is probably boiling so cook the pasta according to pack instructions.

4. Add the wine and allow it to bubble for a minute, then add the cream and the chopped spinach. Bring it all to the boil and turn the heat down. Taste the sauce and check the seasoning – it might not need salt as sausages are often quite salty.

5. Simmer the sauce until the pasta is ready. Drain the pasta and pour it into the pan with the sauce. Stir everything to coat and spoon into bowls. Grate over some parmesan and serve.

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