Baked Italian pasta recipe with sausage, tomato and stracciatella

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Would dough cooked under another name taste as good? Chef Sam Mannering thinks so.

Sam Manning

Would dough cooked under another name taste as good? Chef Sam Mannering thinks so.

Shakespeare was wrong. There’s a lot to a name. What do you think sounds best? Conchiglions? Or cook pasta?

Conchiglioni is the large, shell-like variety, but anything along the same lines is fine and doesn’t need to be so big – penne, orecchiette; anything you fancy and can get your hands on. That’s the whole point of a uh, cooked pasta, isn’t it?

Good sausages will make this dish. I like to opt for a venison or lamb sausage, something a little leaner and with lots of flavor. Boerewors is perfect.

READ MORE:
* Sam Mannering’s Spicy Lamb Shank Recipe
* Sam Mannering’s Sri Lankan vattalapam recipe
* The recipe for celeriac, kūmara and tarragon gratin by Sam Mannering

CONCHIGLIONI WITH SAUSAGE, TOMATO AND STRACCIATELLA (AKA A GOOD OLD COOKING PASTA)

PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES

COOKING TIME: 1 HOUR

SERVES: 4

INGREDIENTS

Olive oil

1 red onion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Sea salt and black pepper

1 tsp fennel seeds

450g good sausages (see note)

½ cup of red wine

1 x 400g tinned tomatoes

4-500g large shell pasta – conchiglioni or similar (see note)

A large handful of flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped

Parmesan (a lot)

About 100-150g stracciatella, to serve

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C while baking.

  2. In a casserole dish over medium heat, add a little olive oil, then the red onion and garlic. Gently sauté for a few minutes until soft and translucent.

  3. Follow with the fennel seeds and continue to cook for about a minute until fragrant.

  4. Squeeze the sausage meat out of its casing into the pan and continue to fry gently until the sausage has broken down, is cooked through, and has browned a bit.

  5. Pour in the red wine and let it boil a little. Continue with the tomatoes and bring to a bubble. Taste and season.

  6. Meanwhile, boil a large pot of salted water and cook your pasta almost al dente. Drain and pour into the pot with the finished sausage mixture.

  7. Add most of the chopped parsley and mix well. Add a good amount of Parmesan on top and put in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes, until golden on top.

  8. Remove from the oven, spread the stracciatella on top. Sprinkle a little more parsley on it, as well as a little more parmesan because why not. Serve immediately.