maple•spice: Smoky and Spicy Sausage and Tomato Pappardelle Pasta

Smoky and Spicy Sausage and Tomato Pappardelle Pasta - vegan

Well, from a rather complicated salad which involved making 2 homemade vegan cheeses and 2 days to make to a ridiculously easy and very tasty pasta dish for you, dead easy to whip up for dinner.

As good as this was using all the ingredients I did, don't feel you can only make it with the ingredients I used. Replace the sausages with your favourite brand, the hot smoked paprika with any type of smoked paprika, smoked sea salt with regular table salt or the pappardelle with any old pasta shape :-)

(I absolutely love pappardelle, it just has such a silky texture which goes lovely with "meat" style pasta sauces. It can be hard to find without egg but Tesco have started selling one - scroll down to see photo below - which I am most pleased about!)

I used these Wicken Fen Tomato and Garlic Sausages to make the sauce. They are vegan and the flavour just goes perfectly in this dish. I think I actually prefer them as a pasta sauce than I do on their own! Like everything else here though, just swap with whatever vegan sausages you like. If you can, make sure it's a brand that crumbles easily - Fry's for example wouldn't work really well.

As you can see, I kept this pasta as is but some sliced fried mushrooms would be a gorgeous addition, as would serving this with some Garlic Bread!

The smoked paprika I used here - Tesco's, doesn't state that it is hot but it is. It's like cayenne pepper hot! If you are using just a regular smoked paprika and still want a spicy dish simply add between 1/8 - 1/4 tsp of red chilli flakes at the same time as the paprika.

Smoky and Spicy Sausage and Tomato Pappardelle

serves 2

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• ½ onion, diced

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• ¼ tsp hot smoked paprika

• ½ of a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes (don't drain)

• ½ Tbsp tomato paste (puree)

• ¼ tsp smoked sea salt

• 1/8 tsp sugar

• 150g Pappardelle Pasta (dry weight)

• 2 Wicken Fen garlic and tomato sausages

If using these sausages cook them from frozen in the microwave for 2 minutes then crumble by hand. If using another brand, follow their instructions for cooking but opt for a way that won't give a crispy coating like frying as that will make the sausages hard to crumble. If they are sausages that are already cooked you can just defrost and crumble as they get heated in the sauce.

The sausages crumbled.

Get a large pot of lightly salted water on for the pasta and cook until al dente.

While it is cooking, heat the olive oil in a smaller saucepan then add the chopped onion. Fry gently until soft and transparent. Add the garlic and paprika and fry on low just until fragrant - about 30 seconds.

Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, smoked sea salt and sugar. Bring to a simmer then add the cooked and crumbled sausages. Cover with a lid and simmer for 5 minutes, you can add a splash of water if needed.

Drain the pasta reserving some of the cooking liquid. Return the pasta to the pot and pour over the sauce. Mix well adding enough of the cooking water to make a loose sauce. Dish up onto a couple of plates and serve immediately!