Fennel and Sausage Pasta in a cream and white wine sauce

My recipe for Fennel and Sausage Pasta in a cream and white wine sauce is an upgrade of an old favourite. Scroll down to find out more.

It’s probably more accurate to call me a feeder rather than a foodie. This summer I’ve spent a surprising amount of time sans Jon and I’ve just not had a reason to cook. For three weeks in a row Jon went away for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, leaving me to cook for myself.

Initially I used it as an excuse to treat myself to a take-away or two. But that soon got expensive and rather unhealthy so I switched to ready meals. That’s right, a food blogger eating ready meals because she’s just too lazy to cook!

You see, as much as I like eating good food, I like feeding people good food and if I don’t have a taste tester then I can’t be bothered getting out all my pots and pans.

By week 3 I knew my attitude had to change and so I looked back to some of the really old recipes on this blog: the recipes I used to cook when I was at uni which were perfect to prepare for just one.

Going back to basics

The in-eloquently named “Sausage and Pasta Pieces” was one of my favourites when I was at uni. I’d jazz up some simple (cheap) bangers by making a simple sauce, chucking in whatever green vegetables I had to hand and stirring through some pasta. Every student has a bag of dried pasta in their cupboard. I swear I lived off the stuff!

A few things have changed since university so basics sausages were swapped for wild boar sausages from the local butchers. The sauce was livened up with a splash of white wine, double cream and fennel out of the garden. I even used fresh pasta instead of dried.

But some things never change and that’s the giant bag of peas in my freezer. They went in this recipe 6 years ago and they still go in it now! If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!

Fusilli and fennel

I may have only made one portion this weekend but if you’re buying a pack of sausages and a bag of fresh pasta then you can easily scale this up to serve a family of 4. I used 2 big sausages (because I’m a little greedy) but 6 sausages would be plenty for 2 adults and 2 children.

You can of course choose whatever pasta you like. Fusilli is our pasta of choice. In this recipe the white wine and cream sauce really clings to the spirals. But, something like a conchiglie (aka pasta shells) also work well as the small pieces of sausages get caught in the cavity along with the sauce.

Depending on which sausages you buy they will probably already have some herbs in them. If you can find a sausage meat made with fennel then you will be on to a winner. To try and tie the herby sausages in with the sauce I often add a small pinch of mixed herbs but finish off with lots of fresh fennel.

If you don’t have fresh fennel dried will work fine. Interested in growing your own fennel then you can read more about creating a herb garden here. 

The recipe

Fennel and Sausage Pasta in a cream and white wine sauce

This Fennel and Sausage Pasta in a cream and white wine sauce recipe is perfect for a midweek meal.

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Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 35 mins

Course Dinner

Cuisine Italian

Servings 1 person

Calories 1346.51 kcal

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• 2 pork sausages
• 1/2 white onion diced
• 5 chestnut mushrooms sliced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1/2 tsp mixed herbs dried
• 75 ml white wine
• 1/2 cup peas frozen
• 150 g pasta fresh
• 75 ml double cream
• 50 g parmesan grated
• black pepper to taste
• 3 sprigs of fresh fennel

Instructions

 

• Make a cut in each of the sausages and peel away the sausage casing.
• Break the sausages up into small pieces and add to a frying pan.
• Cook on a medium heat using the fat of the sausages to prevent them sticking.
• Once browned on the outside add the diced onions and sliced mushrooms to the pan.
• Cook for 5-10 minutes stirring frequently until the onions are translucent.
• Add the minced garlic and mixed herbs then cook for a few more moments.
• Pour in the wine and peas then turn up the heat until the wine is simmering.
• In the meantime, put the pasta on to simmer for 5 minutes.
• Once the wine has reduced, add the cream to the pan and reduce the heat.
• Stir the sauce making sure any caramelisation on the bottom of the pan is incorporated.
• Drain the pasta and stir into the sauce
• Grate in the parmesan and add the black pepper.
• Once the parmesan has melted stir through the fennel leaving a little to garnish and plate up.

Notes

To scale up this recipe simply multiply the ingredients by the number of people you wish to serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 1346.51kcalCarbohydrates: 34.63gProtein: 62.78gFat: 101.37gSaturated Fat: 45.48gTrans Fat: 0.48gCholesterol: 299.47mgSodium: 3068.98mgPotassium: 1929.99mgFiber: 7.55gSugar: 15.77gVitamin A: 2872.21IUVitamin C: 46.61mgCalcium: 741.62mgIron: 6.31mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

I’m so lucky that I have a decent butchers just round the corner so when I made this last I popped in to buy just 2 sausages. Of course, if you’re cooking for one, you could buy a pack of six and freeze them in portions of 2. That’s what I used to do at uni to avoid any food going to waste.

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