Donal Skehan’s smashed sausage pasta

“Balsamic-y sticky red onions add sweetness to this rich, speedy sausage pasta supper,” promises cookbook author Donal Skehan.

Smashed sausage pasta

Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

Olive oil
6 good-quality sausages
3 red onions
4 garlic cloves
2 anchovies
2 sprigs of rosemary
50g butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
350g bucatini pasta
A pinch of chilli flakes
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
150ml chicken stock
10 sage leaves

Method:

1. First set a deep-sided frying pan over a medium heat and drizzle in a little olive oil. Squeeze the meat out of the sausages straight into the pan, forming little sausage meatballs, and cook for 5–6 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.

2. Meanwhile thinly slice the red onions and garlic, roughly chop the anchovies and strip the leaves from the rosemary.

3. Add the butter to the pan you cooked the sausages in, then add the red onions and rosemary leaves, season with salt and cook for 7–8 minutes, until softened.

4. Get a pot of water on to boil. Season the water and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

5. Back to the onions. Begin to turn the heat up underneath them so they start to go golden and caramelised, then add the anchovies, garlic and chilli flakes to the pan and cook, stirring, for a few minutes until the anchovies have melted and the garlic is fragrant. Add the balsamic vinegar and stock, then return the sausages to the pan and bring everything to a simmer for 5–6 minutes, to cook the sausages through.

6. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a small frying pan for a few minutes. Fry the sage leaves for a minute, or until fragrant and a deep green, then remove to kitchen paper to drain.

7. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce using tongs, stirring the pan constantly to coat the pasta in all that lovely sauce. Serve in bowls, with the fried sage leaves scattered on top.

Donal’s Real Time Recipes by Donal Skehan is published in hardback by Yellow Kite (Hodder & Stoughton), priced £25. Photography by Donal Skehan. Available October 9.