This is an incredibly simple & tasty dish, perfect for a light lunch or supper & ready in the time it takes to cook the pasta.
A lot of people go for the usual tomato sauces with pasta. Quite often though we prefer something, well, lighter but still full of flavour. Tomato sauces are fine, but they can be a bit ‘samey’, if you know what we mean. And what could be simpler than a drizzle of oil, some herbs & breadcrumbs?
Once you’ve mastered this recipe (it won’t take long) you can tweak it to suit whatever ingredients you might have to hand.
Ingredients
- handful of dried linguine or spaghetti (around 90g per person)
- a couple of sausages or chorizo, chopped into chunks
- handful of breadcrumbs
- handful of chopped herbs, basil, parsley, whatever you have
- 2 garlic cloves squeezed through a garlic press
- splash of lemon juice
- drizzle of oil (plain or a flavoured oil, like Basil Oil or Smoked Chilli)
- 25g butter
Directions
- melt the butter and stir through the breadcrumbs with the garlic; spread them out on parchment paper and bake at 200c until golden (around 8-10 mins)
- add a splash of oil & gently sauté the chopped sausage, turning when needed
- add the pasta to a large pan of salted, boiling water & leave on fast boil, uncovered, until al dente
- put the golden breadcrumbs in a bowl with the herbs and stir through
- drain the pasta (save a little of the water) & quickly put put back in the pan; add the sausage & drizzle with oil & lemon juice; add a splash of the cooking water if it gets too dry
- stir everything together, serve into pasta bowls, top with the breadcrumbs & another drizzle of oil if you prefer
It’s so easy to take this in different directions: if you do prefer a richer, creamier sauce, add a splash of cream and a few shavings of parmesan. If you have a half a glass of white wine, it’s always nice to add to the sausages at the end of cooking and reduce it down. Add chopped mushrooms, pancetta, prawns, a pinch of chilli or anything else you fancy.
By now you should realise this style of cooking is fun, flexible & flavour packed!
Do try it – it’s an absolute joy to eat!
