Sausage Fusilli and Creamy Garden Salad

Hello lovely, 

this Sunday I cooked. Yes, I did, and I went for some sausage pasta. 

My parents have been begging me to do it this very recipe for weeks now, as they saw Jamie do it on Jamie's 15 Minute Meals show on 24 Kitchen which they watch to basically boss me around with which recipes I should make and for the lesser part, to remember some tips that would make the cooking easier on/for me. 

Jamie also said this was the recipe his kids always begged him to make, so as a kid, I wanted to see the lure factor.

It can be found on Pg. 176 of the "Pasta" section, believe it or not. 

And this here, is my version:

When you first look at the recipe, all dazzled up with the spices and other ingredients and lots of explanations, you think "Wow,  this is some serious pasta going on here." When, in reality, as soon as its done, you realize it's simplicity and ordinarity. And no, I don't mean this in a negative context, on the contrary - I'm amused with how words and a little extra ingredients transform a meal. It truly shows how everything is possible.

Now back to the recipe:

Yes, I did it, I am guilty, I changed the recipe again. But oh well, what can I do if my sausages have to be charring nicely just as I am draining my pasta and pouring the dressing over the salad?!              These recipes obviously aren't 15 minute ones let's be honest, because I'm not Jamie Oliver, you're probably not Jamie Oliver, all our ingredients haven't been pre-washed and laid out for the show and our kitchen isn't the size of a studio. If it is, good for you.

So I started with the salad - for this I used more types than Jamie, the following to be exact: rocket, lettuce, corn salad (hrv: matovilac) and a typical Croatian salad called Hrast/Rosa which Google refuses to find the English name for. And now for those of you who may Google it, no, it isn't dew or oak, the two are just names of two variaties on the same type of salad. I also prepared the dressing accordingly with the yoghurt, mustard and fresh chives. I couldn't find cress anywhere I looked and eventually gave up and noticed it wouldn't have made a grave difference anyway. Ooh, I also didn't use lemon here as I personally don't prefer it in recipes, it ruins them for me with the bitterness, especially dressings but to each their own, use as many as you want! 

(After shot:)

After the salad was drying and the dressing was ready, I went onto the pasta sauce. I whizzed the jarred peppers, red onion, fennel seeds, rosemary leaves and salt&pepper in my processor until it was in very tiny pieces, but wasn't pure liquid. This can be whizzed to your preference of course, as coarse or rare as you want, even though it will generally fall apart when subjected to high heat in the pan.          Which leads me to the next step, which is putting the mixture into a large frying pan (keep in mind you need to add 350g of passata so take the bigger one) along with the tbsp of olive oil and 4 cloves of garlic, stirring frequently so that it doesn't stick to the bottom near the very end. Let that simmer under a lid and finally tend to the sausages.

(After shot:)

 Jamie says to use 4, but I used 6 small to medium pork sausages for the 4 members of my family. I cut them lengthways and rubbed some olive oil on the part that I opened like a book. I let that sit whilst I put my pasta to cook according to packet instructions, since pasta cooks longer than meat and we want it all done at the same time! Also, I used the whole package, so 500g instead of 320g as us 4 require it but kept the same amount of sauce which was exactly enough to make it juicy. 

At this point I already added the passata and balsamic vinegar to my frying pan, which you do as soon as the initial mixture seems dry and soaked up into itself and as soon as that starts boiling, you take it off the heat. With the pasta cooking and the sauce pan off the stove, we have room for the grill pan which I managed to put all my 6 sausages on, the cut side down (the one with the olive oil, book layout). Now, since there is olive oil on it, there is no need for extra on the pan, plus the sausage itself will release fat which is basically oil for the pan, but I just lightly brushed it over just in case, even though next time I wouldn't even do that. Actually, in the end I was spooning out oil from the corner of the tipped grill pan. I like my meat well done, and that's what I did with these sausages too. I turned them over several times, but all in all it took about 4-5 minutes on every side. 

While that was still cooking, I arranged my salad and the dressing, drained the pasta and covered it with the hot sauce which was made even hotter by the pasta and eventually took my meat off the pan and cut it into small pieces, arranging it on top of the pasta. I have forgotten to add the rosemary leaves near the end of the sausages, but they were surprisingly good without any spices whatsoever. 

The final look:

This is a very lovable meal, meaning if you're in doubt, chances are that anyone you are cooking it for will love it. From children to seniors, Jamie gave a very ordinary meal an extraordinary twist. 

To create this meal, you will need: 

Ingredients out * Kettle boiled * Griddle pan, high heat * Food processor (bowl blade) * Large frying pan, high heat * Large lidded pan, high heat 

Serves 4, 622 calories

Ingredients

Pasta

4 sausages (at least 80% meat)

olive oil

1 large red onion

1 heaped tsp fennel seeds

4 jarred red peppers

4 sprigs of fresh rosemary 

4 cloves of garlic

320g of dried fusilli 

2 tbsp of thick balsamic vinegar, plus extra to serve

350g passata 

Salad

1 soft round lettuce 

100g baby spinach or rocket 

1 punnet of cress

2 tsp English mustard

1 lemon

1 bunch of fresh thyme 

Start cooking

Score the sausages lengthways about three-quarters of the way through, open them out like a book, then rub 1 teaspoon of oil and place on the griddle pan, cut side down, turning regularly, until crispy and cooked through. Peel and halve the red onion, then pulse in the processor with the fennel seeds, peppers, half of the rosemary leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper. Put into the frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil, squash in the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher and stir frequently. 

Put the pasta into the lidded pan, cover with boiling salted water and cook according to packet instructions. Add the balsamic and passata to the veg pan. Trim the lettuce and cut into wedges, then arrange with the spinach or rocket around a nice board or platter and snip over the cress. Toss the remaining rosemary leaves with the sausages until crispy, then remove from the heat. 

Make dressing by mixing the mustard, yoghurt and lemon juice with a pinch of salt and pepper. Finely chop the chives, stir half through the dressing, then drizzle over the salad. Drain the pasta, reserving a cupful of the starchy cooking water, then toss well with the sauce, loosening with a splash of cooking water, if needed. Season to taste and tip onto a platter, scatter over the remaining chives, chop and scatter over the sausages and finish with a drizzle of balsamic from a height. 

P.S. This above is the original recipe from the cookbook, my adjustments can be found in the text above.

P.P.S. I haven't tried to reconstruct the image from the cookbook this time as I had a lot more food than Jamie plus the salad is impossible to eat while just bluntly laid out on a platter, a total waste of dressing if you ask me.

Bon Appétit!