Spicy veggie sausage pasta

If you’re like me and aren’t usually a fan of mock meats, I strongly suggest pushing those feelings aside for now and having faith in this pasta recipe. It’s really simple, making it great for weeknight meals and if you use good quality veggie sausages, the sauce is intensely umami and surprisingly meaty. This recipe serves 2 but the sauce intensifies in flavour the longer it sits, so I would recommend doubling the batch of this spicy vegetarian sausage pasta and storing it in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for longer.

Serves 2:

250g dried tagliatelle

4 veggie sausages torn up with hands

1/2 finely chopped white onion

2 punnets (around 500g) cherry or plum tomatoes cut into halves

1 handful torn fresh basil

3 garlic cloves finely chopped

Around 3tbsp olive oil

1/2tsp chilli flakes

1tbsp tomato purée

Save 1/2 cup of the pasta water

Method:

Add the tomatoes, garlic and basil to a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and 1tbsp of the oil. Mix and leave to sit for around 10-20 minutes to allow the juices to release.

Add the remaining olive oil to a large pan and add the onion. Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden. Add the sausage pieces and fry until each piece is nicely browned.

Put your pasta on to boil in salted water and cook to packet instruction but take away a couple of minutes to allow for an al dente texture!

Add the chilli flakes and tomato purée to the sausages and cook for around a minute, before adding the tomatoes and leaving to simmer on a medium heat until the pasta has finished cooking.

Add the pasta water to the sauce and mix. Toss in the pasta and once glossy and the sauce is coating the pasta, serve!