Sausage and black olive rigatoni

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 300g rigatoni
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 good-quality sausages
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 small red chilli, finely sliced, optional
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 100ml red wine, optional
• Small handful black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
• Small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 40g Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Get the pasta on

Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil and cook the rigatoni until al dente. Before draining, save a mug of the pasta water. It nearly always turns out to be useful.

2. Start the sauce

While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan or sauté pan over a medium heat. Squeeze the sausage meat out of its skins into the pan, then cook for 6–8 minutes, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it browns. You want proper colour here, not pale little clumps just going through the motions.

3. Build the base

Add the onion with a small pinch of salt and cook for 4–5 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and chilli, if using, and cook for another minute. Add the tomato purée and let it cook out for a minute or two so it loses that raw edge and starts tasting like it means business.

4. Add the tomatoes

Pour in the red wine, if using, and let it bubble for a minute or two. Add the chopped tomatoes and a good grind of black pepper, then leave the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. It should look rich and glossy, not watery and apologetic.

5. Bring it all together

Stir the black olives into the sauce, then add the drained rigatoni along with the Parmesan and a splash of the pasta water. Toss everything together over a low heat until the sauce clings nicely to the pasta. Add another splash of pasta water if it needs loosening.

6. Finish properly

Stir through most of the parsley, then have a taste. Add a little salt if needed, though the sausages, olives and Parmesan may already be doing a fair amount of the heavy lifting.

7. Serve

Divide between warm bowls and finish with extra Parmesan, the rest of the parsley and a final twist of black pepper. Serve straight away while everything still feels rich, savoury and exactly as it should.

A couple of helpful notes

- Fennel sausages work especially well here if you can find them, but any good pork sausage with decent flavour will do the job nicely.
- Go a little carefully with the salt until the end, as the olives and Parmesan can make the sauce saltier than you expect.
- A handful of rocket on the side, lightly dressed with lemon, fits very nicely if you want something fresh alongside.