Rigatoni with fennel sausage sauce

Ingredients

• 2½ tbsp olive oil
• 6 cut into 1.5cm-thick slices Italian fennel sausages
• 1 large peeled and chopped onion
• 1 trimmed and roughly chopped; reserve any fronds to garnish fennel bulb
• ½ tsp smoky paprika
• 1 clove, peeled and sliced garlic
• 2 tsp lightly toasted and then gently crushed fennel seeds
• 100ml red wine
• 400g tinned chopped tomatoes
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• 50g cut in half lengthways pitted black olives
• 500g rigatoni
• 30g roughly crumbled into 0.5cm pieces pecorino
• 1 rinsed and patted dry anchovy fillet
• 1 clove, peeled and crushed garlic
• 60ml olive oil
• 50g torn basil leaves

Steps

1. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large saute pan for which you have a lid. Add the sausage pieces and fry on a medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until golden-brown all over. Transfer the sausages to a plate, then add the onion and fennel to the hot pan and fry for 15 minutes, stirring once in a while, until soft and caramelised; if the pan goes a bit dry, add a teaspoon or so of ex
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 12-14 minutes (or according to the instructions on the packet), until al dente. Meanwhile, reheat the sauce. Drain the pasta, return it to the pot, stir in a tablespoon of oil, then divide between the bowls.
3. Put all the pesto ingredients except the basil in the small bowl of a food processor. Add a tablespoon of water and blitz to a rough paste. Add the basil, then blitz until just combined (the pesto has a much better texture if the basil is not overblended).
4. Spoon over the ragù and top with a spoonful of pesto. Finish with a sprinkling of chopped fennel fronds, if you have any, and serve at once.