Nigel's spicy sausage pasta step by step

"I couldn’t get over how lush it tastes; creamy and luxurious and comforting" A Muse Bouche

You may remember that I decided to try to get my teenage grandchildren to cook dinner for their parents every now and then, and I mused on what recipe I might choose. Well in the end I chose Nigel's Pasta with spicy sausage, basil and mustard, and sent them the version published by Food and Wine, which I now see is not quite the same as mine. The 'official' recipe is not online and the closest one I found is on a website called Feasts, with Freya whose version this is. At the top you have from left to right - my finished version, the one in Real Food, and the one in A Cook's Book. And yes, I would have shown you a photo of the one cooked by my grandsons - and it is good - but I am not allowed to show it. Suffice to say it was made with rigatoni.

My children and their partners have been enthusiastic about the idea, but the granddaughters and their young brother have not. My oldest granddaughter says she will but it won't be for a couple of weeks because she is too busy - she's also a vegetarian, so her sausages, will be confected meat I think. And anyway I'm not holding my breath. But I shall persevere with the experiment and see whether it falls on deaf ears or not. My grandsons apparently had a fair bit of fun doing it - it was a group exercise I think - although the younger one didn't like the mustard. The rest of them thought it good with some going for seconds. I also thought I would actually try and get David to be the cook in our household, when I made my 'control' version yesterday, but he flatly refused.

Because I was acutely aware that I had asked inexperienced teenagers to cook this I thought I would pay particular attention to the recipe as written as I cooked, and there were enough things that gave me pause for thought, of various kinds, that I thought I would go through it step by step - partly to say a few things about this particular recipe and partly some more general thoughts.

It's a very popular recipe by the way - lots, and lots of people have tried it - and I include a few of their comments as I go. In his introduction in A Cook's Book Nigel says of it:

"Of all the thousands of recipes I have published over the years, it is this one, with pasta, sausages, mustard and cream, that I am told is 'the favourite'. ... Some recipes are more popular than others. Frustratingly, they are rarely those which you spent days testing and retesting, agonising over, writing and rewriting. It is more likely, in my experience, anyway, to be the recipes you threw together at the last minute, to catch your deadline."

So here we go. 'For 2' - fantastic for David and I, though I think Nigel has a larger appetite than us - even me. Almost half the quantity I made is leftover for another meal. I worried that I had not told my grandchildren to look at the quantities, but I see the version I sent them from Food and Wine, is for 4-6, so they were probably OK. I'd say the 'real' version is really for 3 - 4 if they have small appetites.

'4 spicy pork sausages.' In A Cook's Book he upgrades this to '4-6 depending on their size'. Maybe somebody had used little ones, didn't have enough and complained. Most sausages are more or less the same size though, so go for 4. And yes, I think 4 is the right number. I'd decrease the amount of pasta rather than the sausages. I'm using the remaining two from the packet tonight with leftover ham in a kind of paella.

The sausages are crucial. Oz BBQ sausages will not do here. I did consider using some Coles Finest pork and beef chorizo sausages, which I also had in the freezer, but decided this would be too spicy for David. Indeed one blogger had made her version with pretty spicy sausages, and then added chilli (I will come to that) and found it pretty hot. But isn't it great that you can personalise your dish simply by choosing your own favourite sausage. Or make it different every time by using a different kind. Would it work with a more German kind of sausage I wonder?

'4 handfuls (about 250g) of dried pasta (any tube or shell shapes or even pappardelle)' Nigel uses orecchiette - well that's what's in the accompanying photo, but lots of others, including Food and Wine - and hence my grandsons - used rigatoni or penne. I did buy some orecchiette for the purpose, but in the end chickened out and went for fusilli - not tubes or shells but curly. Besides I had some. 4 handfuls - I think 3 would have been enough.

Interestingly the order of those two ingredients is reversed in his two versions and the Food and Wine recipe goes for the pasta first. But it's the sausages which you have to deal with first, so I think the Real Food version makes most sense. Not that it matters.

'A glass of white wine' In A Cook's Book he has obviously been told to be more exact because - well how big is your wine glass? - and qualifies it with 150m. I just poured last night's leftovers of Aldi's delicious Freya and Jules riesling - the current version has heaps of gold medals and is delicious - into a glass - there was more than shown here - had a couple of very small sips and poured it in. Food and Wine - cooking for 4 people said 3/4 cup. If you've got a refined palate, your choice of wine might make a difference. They used to say - and probably still do - that you should use the best wine - as if you were going to drink it. One of the net bloggers didn't use wine because she rarely drinks, and used pasta water instead. Which could well work. Stock?

'dried chilli flakes' a pinch or two. Well that's probably a matter of choice. Another way in which you can vary this recipe to your own taste, and also possibly dependent on your sausages. Food and Wine were very cautious and just said a 'pinch of crushed red pepper'. I added just one pinch of my not overly hot chilli flakes. I guess you could add more to your own portion if you really wanted spice.

'a small handful of chopped basil, plus a few leaves to garnish.' By the time he has come to A Cook's Book he has upped this to 'a large handful - about 20g' which seems like a lot and I think he's right. Food and Wine go for a whole cup of thinly sliced basil - well they are cooking for 4. Could you substitue another herb? I think I might be tempted to try tarragon or sage, or maybe even thyme. I didn't see anybody else doing this, although you would think that this would have been one of the most obvious things to fiddle with.

'1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard' which the later version changes to 'grain mustard'. Food and Wine, which, if you remember is cooking for 4 goes for '3 tablespoons of grainy mustard.' The Americans in particular seemed somewhat confused by the idea of mustard and pasta, and my younger grandson didn't like the taste but then they were following the Food and Wine recipe, which seems to have a higher proportion. I think both David and I would concur with this comment by the Scrumpdillyicious website writer:

"Don't be suspicious of the dish's flavour combination, although grainy mustard, spicy sausage, crisp white wine, and fragrant basil may seem like an odd assortment to accompany pasta, the finished product is greater than the sum of its parts, "a synchronized medley of tastes and textures" that you'll be craving again and again."

This picture is opposite the recipe in Real Food, and I have to say that although he says 'Dijon mustard' - which is smooth and yellow, the mustard shown here looks to be nearer to a wholegrain mustard.

Anyway I think it just added a certain mysterious earthiness to the overall taste, not a taste of mustard.

Last ingredient - '200ml double cream'.

That's a lot of cream, as shown here just after I added it to the frying pan. But he doesn't changee that ingredient. Food and Wine does though by adding just 3/4 cup to a doubled up recipe. 200ml is a medium sized tub of cream - a bit more than 3/4 cup I think.

And I did use double cream. I did not cheat by using the standard thickened cream, and I think that was crucial, because as it cooked it became increasingly yellow and buttery.

And what about the process. A Muse Bouche, who raves about the recipe, is especially taken by Nigel's first step:

"Slater has you prep your ingredients, and then, when you’re ready to start, he tells you to put the pasta in the water. The pasta, acting as a little timer, proves that the sauce only takes about 9-10 minutes to cook.  When the pasta is done, the sauce is done.  Everything times up perfectly." A Muse Bouche

I confess I added the pasta a little later which was just as well - as you will see.

'Split the sausages open, and take out the filling.' Here I will disagree with Nigel much easier to squeeze the meat out of the ends. You can get just about all of it out that way - it's a bit like squeezing the last bit out of a tube of toothpaste. And I find it difficult to (a) make a cut down the side of the sausage - it's too squashy - and (b) harder to scrape it all out.

Then you heat the oil - 'just enough to lubricate the bottom' - and then 'crumble the meat into the hot pan and fry till sizzling and cooked through, about 5 minutes'.

And this is my biggest argument with Nigel. You cannot crumble squashy sausage meat. It sticks to your fingers and won't separate out into neat little crumbs. So I first of all spent some time - at least that 5 minutes, probably nearer 10, chopping at it with the thin end of my wooden spoon to break it up. Not as easy to do as with ordinary mince - it's more gluey. Eventually it did go brown but it was well over 5 minutes and I did have it on a reasonably high heat. I'd say it was nearer 20 - which is why it was good that I didn't add the pasta to the hot water as I began this particular process. Maybe I just chose the wrong sausages - on this occasion Cumberland sausages from The British Sausage Co. Others might be a bit drier and easier to break up.

'Pour the wine into the sausage pan and let it bubble a little, scraping at the sausage goo stuck to the bottom of the pan.' I used a non-stick pan and so I didn't get any of the 'sausage goo'. Maybe I should have used another pan. Then you add in your chilli and basil, stir a bit, add some salt and the mustard, and then the cream. 'Bring slowly to a simmer. Cook for a minute or two, stirring now and then.' All good there.

'When the pasta is tender, about nine minutes after coming to the boil, drain and tip into the creamy sausage sauce. Serve piping hot, garnished with a few basil leaves.' Now why doesn't he tell you to toss your pasta around in the sauce until it's well and truly combined - yes combined - with the sauce? The A Muse Bouche writer explained why you should beautifully:

" Last night, I used rotini pasta, and when I tipped it into the sauce and began to combine them together, the creamy sauce started to coat every curl and every crevice.  It meant that never in my meal did I encounter a plain and doughy tasting piece of pasta without any sauce on it.  Everything tasted exactly as it was supposed to."

Yes, yes, yes. I always toss my pasta with the sauce these days. No more do I just dollop the sauce on top. I have to admit here, that I also added a bit of the pasta water at this point as I thought there was not enough sauce. But I should perhaps have resisted that. It would have been slightly less liquid, and maybe even creamier. Next time.

And one last interesting note from Nigel - he doesn't garnish with basil in his later version. It's probably not essential, but then a bit of green does perk up the appearance a bit. Maybe the extra basil he adds to his later recipe makes the addition of a garnish unnecessary.

This is my bowl of pasta - possibly somewhat unexceptional in appearance, (not to mention my shadow hovering over it all) and I did sprinkle it with Parmesan - which he does not say anything about, so maybe I shouldn't have. It looks a bit bland and in a way it is, but then again, it's one of those dishes, where one taste does not dominate but the overall texture and taste combine into a perfect whole. Maybe if it was in a coloured plate it would have looked more appealing.

As I said, I couldn't resist a tiny bit of meddling, by adding the Parmesan at the table and some pasta water to the sauce. So I was interested to read the author of Feasts with Freya saying:

"I have tried adding slowly fried onions to this but the flavour is completely drowned out by the loud mustard and chilli, so is a bit of a pointless exercise."

Not that I found the mustard and chilli to be loud.

But then there are those - like this one - who vary it so much it becomes a whole different thing:

"I love it, it’s simple and really tasty although I like to add some sliced onion and mushrooms along with a few sliced peppers along with using the lower fat double cream." Chilli Up North

David gave it 4 stars. So I'll probably have another go - possibly with those spicier chorizo sausages if I'm feeling brave.

YEARS GONE BY

May 21

2024 - Calzone

2023 - Mundane to trendy and back to mundane - bread and butter pudding

2022 - Blasts from the past in the Dandenongs

2021 - Nothing

2020 - Deleted

2019 - Home brands are still evolving

2018 - More comfort - dumplings

2017 - Nothing