Recipe & photography by Ed Barrow.
Ingredients
- 2 Romano peppers, halved lengthways and deseeded
- 4 Italian fennel sausages, alternately regular sausages and 1/2 tbsp of fennel seeds
- 25g of salted butter
- 1 small white onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped finely
- 2 tbsp of tomato purée
- 1 tbsp of dried oregano
- 150g of Northern Pasta Co Gigli
- 100ml of single cream
- 40g of Parmesan, finely grated
Method
Start by placing a large pan of well salted water on to boil for the pasta. Preheat the grill to high.
Place the peppers skin side up onto a baking tray and place under the preheated grill. Grill for 4-5 minuets until the skins of the peppers have blackened all over. Remove from the grill was well charred then leave to one side.
Meanwhile, start the sauce by removing the skins from the sausages. Place a large sauté or frying pan over a medium high heat and add a glug of olive oil. Once hot add the sausage meat and fry for 5-6 minutes or until the sausage has gained a good golden caramelisation over all the sausage meat. Then add the butter and onions and turn the heat down to medium low. Fry for another 5 minutes until the onion has softened. Add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further minute until fragrant. Then pour in the red wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Add the tomato purée and oregano and season generously with salt and pepper. Pour in the cream and sprinkle over the Parmesan. Stir together and leave to gently simmer whilst you cook the pasta.
Add the Gigli to the boiling water and cook until al-dente.
Whilst the pasta is cooking, finish preparing the roasted peppers by scarping off all the blackened pepper skin with your fingers. Then slice the flesh finely and add to the sauce.
Drain the pasta once al-dente, saving back some pasta cooking water. Add the drained Gigli to the sauce along with a splash of pasta water, Toss or stir over the heat for 30 seconds until everything is well combined and the sauce coats the pasta. Divide between two bowls and finish with a little extra Parmesan.
