Penne with Sausage, Onions and Fennel

An easy and delicious recipe, the ingredients are basic but the result is complex and truly satisfying. As these ingredients caramelise, layer upon layer of flavour will form. Italian sausage, onion, fennel bulb, crushed red pepper and tomato, a harmony of Italian products. Toss your pasta in this luscious sauce and finish off with a dusting of Grana Padano. This dish will become one of your family’s favourites, as it is for our family.

Serves 6

450g sweet Italian sausages

1 large fennel bulb (about 450g)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 medium onions, cut into half-moon slices

½ teaspoon red chilli flakes

250ml crushed, or puréed and sieved, fresh San Marzano tomatoes (or good-quality plum tomatoes)

450g penne

4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

100g pecorino or Grana Padano cheese, freshly grated

salt

Remove the sausage meat from its casing and break up the meat a bit with your fingers and set aside.

Trim the fennel bulb, removing any tough outer parts. Slice the bulb lengthways in half and remove the core, then cut each half lengthways into 5mm-thick slices. Separate the slivers of fennel if they are attached at the bottom; cut the long slivers in half so you have 5cm-long matchsticks of fennel.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil for the pasta. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium–high heat. Add the sausage meat and cook, stirring and breaking it up with a wooden spoon, for about 1½ minutes until it sizzles and begins to brown.

Push the sausage to the side of the pan and drop the onion slices into the cleared centre. Sauté, stirring, for about 2 minutes until the onions sizzle and wilt, then mix them into the sausage meat. Clear a new space and drop in the fennel. Leave it to heat up and wilt for 1 minute or more, then stir into the sausage mixture. Sprinkle in ½ teaspoon salt.

Clear a little spot in the pan and drop in the chilli flakes. Toast the flakes for 30 seconds, then stir to combine with the sausage mix. Plop in the tomato and stir it into the rest of the ingredients. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes or so while you cook the pasta.

Drop the penne into the boiling water, then bring back to the boil and cook until the penne are al dente. Drain, reserving about 240ml of the pasta water.

Pour the reserved pasta water into the frying pan and stir well, then bring back to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 6 minutes until the flavours have developed, the sauce is thickened but not too thick, and the fennel is soft but not mushy. (Add more water if the sauce reduces too rapidly). Season to taste.

Drop the cooked penne into the simmering sauce and toss everything together until the pasta is coated with the sauce. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Remove the pan from the heat. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the pasta and toss it to mix. Serve straight from the pan into warm pasta bowls.

Penne with Sausage, Onions and Fennel