Quick and easy pasta with Italian sausage and kale

Coles magazine quite often delivers the goods in terms of convenient and tasty meals that I can actually be bothered to make - and are quite forgiving to deviations from the recipe. This is my variation on Curtis Stone’s “Penne with sausage and kale” from April 2015. I’ve made this a few times now, so it’s time to post it so that I don’t have to dig out the magazine. (Yes, I really am that forgetful!)

Ingredients

• Coles finest Italian sausages. (Any tasty quality sausage will do but these have fennel in, which adds an extra dimension.)
• Bunch of kale, stalks removed and sliced. (Recipe calls for half but I go for a whole bunch - it cooks down.)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed.
• Small/half glass of dry white wine.
• Jar of tomato pasta sauce. (The recipe calls for 1.5 cups of passata but then you are left with lots of passata.)
• 300g pasta. (Recipe says penne. I tend to use small spirals… for everything.)
• Parmesan, salt, pepper to serve.

Instructions

1. Get a large pan of salted boiling water going to cook the pasta. See below for the timing you’re aiming at. (Err on the side of too late, I think - the rest can simmer for a bit longer.)

2. Remove the sausages from their skins and fry them over a medium-high heat, breaking them up with a wooden spoon/spatula as you go.

3. Add the kale and garlic and cook until the kale is wilted. If you are using a whole bunch, like me, you may need to add it in a couple of batches - unless you have a very big pan. Don’t worry: it cooks down a lot.

4. Add the wine and the tomato sauce. This time, we used puttanseca sauce, which was quite olivey. If olives aren’t your thing, you might be happier with a simple tomato or tomato and basil sauce. (You can just use passata as in the original recipe, of course!) The sauce had a few cherry tomatoes in it, which was nice. This recipe would work well if you roasted some cherry tomatoes and chucked them in too.



5. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until at the desired consistency. Hopefully, your pasta should be done by now. Drain and toss with the sausagey tomato goodness.



6. Season to taste and serve. Sprinkle with grated parmesan and black pepper. This makes enough for four adults, or two good dinners and lunches.

And, of course, it passed the Arthur test. (No, he didn’t get any.)