Recipe – Pasta Sudicio

Inspired by the more popular Pasta Puttanesca, I decided to try my hand at a whorish dish using random ingredients in my cupboard and fridge. Personally I think it tastes a lot better than it looks, but my other half assures me it is as visually appealing as it tastes…

He ate the sauce, but not the pasta.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I give you my brilliant Pasta Sudicio (translation: Grubby Pasta).

Ingredients:

Pasta (enough for 4)
4 large tomatoes
8 cloves of garlic
2 T olive oil
8 anchovy fillets
1 medium white onion
8 sausage links
10 sun-dried tomatoes in oil
handful of black olives
1/2 C ricotta cheese
salt & pepper
parmasean cheese (to garnish)

 Instructions:

First, cut up the tomatoes, removing excess watery bits and place in an ovenproof casserole dish. Add the garlic cloves (no need to peel) and drizzle olive oil over the whole thing. Add salt and pepper to taste and place the whole thing in a medium oven for about 40 minutes.

In a large pan, add the anchovy fillets, chopped, into a bit of olive oil. Within a few minutes, they should “melt” into the oil.

Add in the onion, chopped into small pieces and fry until they are translucent.

Take the sausage links and cut them in half, removing them from their casings. Form the halves into small meatballs and add to your frying pan with the onions. Fry them up until they are golden and cooked through.

Chop up the sun-dried tomatoes and add to the mix, stirring a bit.

It’s a good idea to get your pasta going now, taking into account the instructions for your brand.

At this point, you can remove the tomatoes from the oven. Take out the garlic and set it to the side. Add the tomatoes to the frying pan and stir in until all is combined. Any large pieces of tomato should be broken up with the spoon.

The garlic should be roasted and easy to remove from its skin. Take a fork and mash it all up together to form a paste and then add this to your sauce.

Making sure it’s on a low heat, keep stirring the sauce every so often until your pasta is done. At the last minute, add in the handful of black olives and the ricotta cheese.

Drain the pasta and dish it out. As the sauce is quite thick, I don’t mix the pasta into it, rather placing the sauce on TOP of it. But if you wish for a mixture, add some of the pasta water to the sauce to thin it out.

Et voila! Add paramasean cheese if you like it.

Serves 4 – 5 depending on appetite.