Spicy Sausage Pasta

Ingredients

• 2 red onions
• olive oil
• 6 spicy Italian sausages
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 red chilli
• 250 ml red wine
• 800 g chopped plum tomatoes
• 300 g pasta, preferably penne
• 50 g parmesan
• 300 ml double cream

Method

Heat a wide, heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium heat and film the base with olive oil. Slice the red onions into half-moons and sauté them until soft and beginning to colour at the edges — about 8 minutes. This sauteing of alliums builds the foundational sweetness that will balance the heat and alcohol later. Meanwhile, squeeze the sausage meat from its casings directly into a bowl, breaking it apart with your fingers as you go. Once the onions are ready, increase the heat to medium-high, add the sausage meat, and use a wooden spoon to break it into small, irregular pieces — not a paste. This jagged texture matters: smaller fragments brown faster and develop more crust through the wine-reduction step, where the meat's proteins coagulate and concentrate flavour. Finely slice the red chilli and strip the rosemary leaves from their stems. When the meat has lost its raw pink colour and shows distinct brown edges (about 7 minutes), add the chilli and rosemary and cook for another minute until fragrant.

Pour in the red wine and scrape the pan base to lift any stuck meat and caramelised fond — this is flavour you're reclaiming. Simmer hard, uncovered, until the liquid reduces by roughly half, leaving a syrupy base. Add the chopped plum tomatoes and stir well. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and leave uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. The sauce will thicken as water evaporates; you're after a dense, clingy sauce that clings to the pasta, not a loose broth. Taste at 25 minutes and correct seasoning — it will need salt and black pepper.

In the final 10 minutes of the sauce cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and cook the pasta to just under the packet's stated time — it will finish cooking in the pan with the sauce and cream. Drain it, reserving a mug of cooking water.

Stir the double cream and finely grated Parmesan into the sauce off the heat, adding a splash of pasta water to loosen it if needed. Add the pasta and toss over low heat for a minute until well combined. The starch in the water emulsifies with the cream and helps the sauce coat evenly. Serve immediately in warm bowls without extra cheese — the Parmesan is already in the sauce.