This no-fuss sausage rigatoni recipe is your new life-saving weeknight dinner

Self-taught Sydney cook Jasmin Weston is known for her engaging and approachable style on social media, breaking down advanced kitchen techniques into simple skills and easy-to-follow recipes.

Her debut cookbook, Everyday Eats, contains 75 recipes anyone can make at home, even if they’ve never cooked before.

Here, Weston shares a pasta dish that’s big on flavour yet perfect for beginners.

Sausage rigatoni

Extremely hearty and comforting, this is quick and easy dinner requires little to no effort and is of restaurant quality.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 pork sausages, skins removed (I used a fennel-flavoured pork sausage but
  any Italian-flavoured sausages will work just fine)
• 300-350g rigatoni or other pasta of your choice
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• handful of fresh whole basil leaves, plus extra finely sliced leaves to serve
• 150ml thickened cream
• 125g freshly grated parmesan
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the boil – the water should taste like the ocean.
2. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and use your hands to crumble the sausage meat into the pan. If you have a difficulty breaking the sausage meat down, use a potato masher to do the work for you.
3. By now, the water should be at a rolling boil. Add the pasta to the water and cook until al dente. Stir it continuously for the first 30 seconds to prevent it from sticking together. The pasta will continue cooking once we add it to the sauce later so be sure to pull it out of the boiling water before it gets too soft.
4. Once the sausage meat is about 60 per cent cooked, add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes. This will soften the tartness and allow the sugars to caramelise, giving the dish a slightly sweet flavour.
5. Add the basil leaves, cream, a good handful of the parmesan and salt and pepper to taste, then stir to combine. Taste the sauce at this point to ensure you are happy with it – remember the rule: season, taste, season, taste.
6. By now the pasta should be al dente. Reserve 250ml (1 cup) of the pasta water before draining the pasta and adding it to the sauce.
7. Add the pasta water, bit by bit, to loosen the sauce until you reach your desired consistency. If the sauce is too thin, add more parmesan. If it’s too thick, add more pasta water.
8. Serve topped with the remaining parmesan and the sliced basil and enjoy!

Serves 4

Leftovers: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to
a week, or in the freezer for up to a month.

This is an edited extract from Everyday Eats by Jasmin Weston, photography by Ben Dearnley, published by Plum, RRP $39.99.