Luke Grant is joined by Sarah Boorer, Communications professional & CWA award-winning cook, to look at the world of baked goods, delicious treats and & easy recipes.

This week Sarah whips up One-Pot Sausage Meatball Pasta. (recipe courtesy recipetin eats.com)

INGREDIENTS

Serves: 4-5

1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

500 grams good-quality thin beef or pork sausages, cut into 1.5 cm / ¾ inch pieces (mini meatballs!)

1 brown onion (finely chopped)

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 carrot (peeled and finely diced)

1 celery stalk (finely diced)

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

3 tablespoons tomato paste

800 grams can crushed tomatoes

500 millilitres low-salt chicken stock

375 millilitres water

¾ teaspoon cooking salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

300 grams rigatoni pasta (or penne, ziti or macaroni)

150 grams colby cheese or any melting cheese (shredded)

1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley, to serve (optional)

METHOD

One-Pot Sausage Meatball Pasta is a guest recipe by Nagi Maehashi so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe

Brown meatballs — Heat the oil over high heat in a large heavy-based pot. Add the sausage ‘meatballs’ and cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring regularly, until golden brown. Transfer to a bowl.

Sauté aromatics — Turn the heat down to medium–high. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the fat in the pot, then return to the stove. Cook the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, bay leaf and rosemary for 3 minutes or until the onion is translucent.

Make sauce — Add the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the crushed tomatoes, stock, water, salt, pepper, sausage meatballs and the rigatoni. Stir, let it come up to a simmer, then place the lid on and turn the heat down to medium–low so it is simmering gently.

Cook for 20 minutes, stirring every now and then so the base doesn’t catch. Take the pot off the stove, remove the lid and check to ensure the pasta is just about cooked. It should still be soupier than you want. Stir well for 10 seconds — the sauce will reduce quickly. It should still be quite saucy — more gets absorbed in the next step.

Cheese it! — Working quickly, smooth the surface, then sprinkle with the cheese. Put the lid back on, then leave the pot on the turned-off stove for 3 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Serve — Serve immediately, sprinkled with parsley, if desired.

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