The Ultimate Sausage Pasta Bake

Delicious pasta bake

Good quality sausages are preferred for this recipe, but it’s the sauce that really brings this dish into its own. Don’t be afraid to go mad with the red wine and ketchup, the wine adds a deep, rich flavour and the ketchup provides sweetness. Don’t feel you have to be limited to sausages either. Chicken, beef or lamb mince or prawns work equally well. If you’re a vegetarian, just add more vegetables and leave out the sausages.

Serves 2 (or one very hungry student)

Ingredients

- Pasta – it can be any type you like - 1 Onion, chopped - 1 tin of chopped tomatoes - Red wine - 2 tbsps of green pesto - 2 tbsps of Lea & Perrins sauce - Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsps of tomato purée - Grated cheese - Mixed veg – can be anything you like, I like to put carrots, peas and broccoli in mine

1. Preheat the oven to 200C

2. Add a teaspoon of oil to a frying pan and heat on a medium heat for a minute. When the oil is hot, add the sausages (be careful, it may spit) and fry on a medium heat for 20 minutes or so, until the sausages are cooked through. About halfway through add the onions and carrots (if carrots are your thing.) Cut the sausages into pieces and leave for the moment.

3. Take a medium-sized Pyrex dish and add the pasta to it, making sure the bottom of the dish is coated with pasta.

4. In a bowl, mix together the chopped tomatoes, green pesto, Lea & Perrins and tomato purée. Add generous splashes of red wine and tomato ketchup and mix. Pour into the dish on top of the pasta.

5. Add the onions, carrots and sausages to the dish, along with any other vegetables. If it’s a hard vegetable like broccoli, it’s best to microwave or boil it first, otherwise if you have peas or leeks, they’ll cook as the bake cooks. Mix the pasta with the vegetables and sausages.

6. If the pasta is not completely covered in liquid, add more wine and water, as well as the sauce mix if you want to balance out the flavours, until the pasta is all covered in liquid. It won’t cook otherwise.

7. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes. Most of the liquid should evaporate as the pasta cooks, leaving behind the delicious flavours of the sauce. Add the cheese on top, as much or as little as you like, and cook for another 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned on the top.

8. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then enjoy. I like to eat mine straight out of the dish – less washing up!

After eating, remember to soak the dish in hot soapy water before washing-up. Bon appétit!

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