BBQ Sausage One Pot

Now, it isn’t, you understand, that one needs an excuse to cook something warming and hearty, perhaps even wintery, even at the height of summer, but with it starting to get darker earlier and earlier, and having returned from a jaunt to the shops where I found myself face to face with Christmas decorations, this seemed particularly appropriate last night.

The BBQ refers to the slightly smoky flavour imparted by the bacon and paprika, and a small amount of dried chilli flakes adds a little, but enough, heat. I’ve said this serves two, but you could easily stretch this to four by adding the other two sausages from the packet (and see recipe), and serving over some creamy mashed potato. Delicious!

BBQ Sausage One Pot (serves 2 hungry or greedy people, and see above)

• 4 good quality, thick pork sausages (about 300g – 4 from a 454g pack of 6)
• 6 rashers smoked back bacon
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped into pieces, maybe 2 x 4 cm if you’re measuring (I didn’t have a fresh one so used a roasted one from a jar, which worked well)
• 1 400g can good chopped tomatoes
• 1 400g can borlotti beans
• 1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Cut each sausage into four pieces, and cut the bacon into 2cm strips, removing some of the fat if there is a lot. Heat the olive oil in a large pan, and fry the sausage chunks, bacon pieces and chopped onion for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is coloured, by which time the bacon should be cooked too. Throw in the chopped red pepper and fry for a further two minutes.

Drain the beans and rinse away the tinned-bean-gloop in a sieve, and add to the pan, then tip over the chopped tomatoes, and add a glug of water, maybe four tablespoons. Add the chilli flakes, smoked paprika and sugar, and stir well.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the sausages are cooked through. Ladle into two bowls and enjoy with some good bread.

Creamy Red Pesto & Bacon Tagliatelle

I used to be fairly unadventurous with pasta, more often than not serving it with a large quantity of a thick, red, tomato based sauce. This is still a store cupboard standby – garlic, chopped peppers and onions (from the freezer, sometimes, as although I generally have these in the house, they’re so essential there’s no harm in having a back up), good chopped tomatoes, a little basil or oregano, or, in lieu of tomatoes and herbs, the vegetables tarting-up a jar of shop-bought sauce. But, experimenting in the kitchen often leads to rewards, (and sometimes disaster, believe me, but that’s for another time) and a reward this certainly is.

There’s something incredibly comfort-food-esque about this – what’s not to like about carbs, creamy sauce and salty bacon? This is definitely one of those recipes to play around with, to either customise to your taste, or just to make it with what you have in the house. This would, I’m sure, work equally well with the usual green pesto – there’s just usually a jar of red pesto kicking around at my place. Likewise, tagliatelle is usually a specific purchase for me, perhaps with an idea in mind, whereas I always have linguine in, which I’m sure would be fine in this. You could even throw in a handful of frozen peas to add some colour and help you on your way to five a day!

Creamy Red Pesto & Bacon Tagliatelle (serves 2)

• 100g smoked back bacon (about 3-4 rashers)
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• 50g sun dried tomatoes (I prefer the sort in oil, from a jar)
• 150g tagliatelle
• 2 tablespoons red pesto
• 4 tablespoons creme fraiche

Chop the bacon into 1cm strips, removing some of the fat if you like. Heat a little oil in a pan, and fry the bacon pieces for 4-5 minutes, until nicely browned.

Meanwhile, roughly chop the sundried tomatoes into pieces – perhaps 4-6 pieces from each tomato. Add these, along with the pine nuts,  to the bacon in the pan, and fry for another minute or two.

At the same time, cook the tagliatelle in boiling, well-salted water as per the instructions on the packet.

Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Stir in the bacon/tomato/pine nut mixture, and then stir through the pesto and creme fraiche. Serve immediately.