Italian pork sausage spaghetti

Let the tomatoey sauce simmer away until thick and rich while you cook the spaghetti. This dish takes weeknight pasta to a new level.

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 500 g Italian pork and fennel sausages
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• ½ tsp fennel seeds
• 125 ml (½ cup) red wine
• 750 ml (3 cups) passata
• 2 tbsp oregano leaves, finely chopped, plus extra, to serve
• ½ cup Ligurian olives
• salt flakes and black pepper, to taste
• 300 g spaghetti
• parmesan, crumbled, to serve

Instructions

Squeeze sausage meat from casings and break up. Set aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté onion and garlic for 5 minutes or until lightly golden.

Increase heat and add sausage meat. Cook for 8-10 minutes until sausage meat is browned.

Add chilli flakes and fennel seeds, and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.

Pour over red wine and stir in passata, oregano and olives. Season with salt flakes and black pepper. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until sauce has thickened.

Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain.

Divide spaghetti between serving plates and top with sauce. Garnish with extra oregano and crumbled parmesan.

Photography by Brett Stevens. Styling by Justine Poole. Art Direction by Anne Marie Cummins.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.