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Venison Sausage Penne Pasta – How 2 sausages can feed 2!
Sausages tend to come in packs of 4 or 6. If you are me and cook mostly for yourself or one other person, that can mean three or four days of sausages and chips. Or far too much toad in the hole. One solution is to make this very yummy sausage pasta dish. If there are two of you with two leftover sausages – this will make quite enough for both of you. Or, just a single sausage will feed one hungry adult quite comfortably. Why not try this Sausage Penne Pasta recipe. It’s easy and quick and will make the perfect supper for one or two.
My recipe for sausage penne pasta includes quite a lot of chilli. If you are cooking for kids or just don’t like spicy food then cut down the chilli flakes or replace them with half a teaspoon of paprika which will add spice without heat. I’ve made this dish with venison sausages because venison meat is a very healthy but well flavoured red meat. Of course, you can use any kind of sausages but please make sure they are good quality and have a high meat content. I also don’t use parmesan usually, if the sausages are good enough quality, it doesn’t add much for me. If you don’t have fresh tomatoes, then a spoonful of tomato puree or even tomato ketchup will work fine and will look prettier too (fresh tomatoes in the UK don’t have the depth of colour that puree or ketchup has). There are a number of variations on this recipe around. It’s up to you to play and work out what combination of flavours works best for you. Obviously, use some common sense…if you are using herbed sausages then consider whether or not to add herbs to the sauce. Otherwise, enjoy!
Easy Sausage Penne Pasta - Supper for one or two
- 2 Large Sausages these need to be good quality (mine were venison from Abel and Cole)
- 1 Shallot finely chopped
- 2 Tomatoes skinned and roughly chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon Chilli flakes (or less depending on taste)
- 1 clove Garlic finely chopped or crushed
- 1 glass Red or White Wine
- 150 g Penne Pasta
- handful Flat leaf parsley chopped
- 1 Lemon zested and juiced (or a tablespoon of balsamic or extra wine!)
- 1/2 oz Parmesan cheese grated, to taste
- 1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- Remove the sausage meat from the skins and mash up with a fork with the chilli and garlic. If you prefer chunks, then you can simply slice the sausages into thickish pieces
- Gently fry the shallot in oil till soft
- Add the sausagemeat and raise the heat, stirring to brown the meat all over.
- Once the meat is fully browned, add the tomatoes, lemon juice and zest and wine
- Lower the heat and simmer gently while you prepare the pasta according to the packet instructions. If you are using fresh pasta, then please allow the sauce to simmer for about 10 minutes before you start to cook the pasta.
- Drain the pasta and add to the sausage sauce. Stir through
- Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste, garnish with fresh parsley and parmesan to taste
I’m now very full…and that is after spending an hour at the gym this afternoon trying to make good the effect of all those Easter Eggs
Oh, and if there ARE any leftovers venison sausage pasta heats up very well in the microwave!
Thank you for this – it was delicious and so simple! Got back late from work with few ingredients in fridge feeling tired and uninspired and in a few minutes we had a feast. The lemon juice was super in it and worked superbly with the wine and lemon! The is now in my recipe book (I am very selective what I put there)!
Glad you enjoyed it. It’s an excellent way to stretch a couple of sausages into a meal for 2 I think;)
What a great supper recipe. I love the idea of squishing the sausages out of their skins
I’ve made a pasta dish with sausage chilli and tomatoes for years, as I am sure a lot of people have. I DID check on the net before I started and found a few recipes which made me change what I did a little bit this time…One from Jamie Oliver,this one http://www.tasteofglasgow.com/2010/11/pasta-with-sausage-meat/ and this one from getmecooking http://www.getmecooking.com/recipe/sausage-pasta, all of which suggested I squish the sausage meat out of the skins (Brilliant! it makes a much more ‘spreadable’ sauce) and jamies got me adding in some lemon (I had one lying around) rather than balsamic, which I used to use and this one, which had chunks of sausages and rather more tomatoes than I wanted to use (and a lot more than jamies which had none!). http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2625/chunky-sausage-and-tomato-pasta. Personally I do like tomatoes and onion or shallot in this dish – I’ve tried tinned and fresh toms and I’d rather use slightly overripe fresh ones because the tinned ones can be a bit overwhelming. Isn’t that the way recipes evolve? by looking around on the internet and taking the best of what other people are doing and using that to adjust their own version? I know that’s what I do all the time.