Ziti is a long, hollow pasta that allows you to suck up the sauce as though through a straw! Bucatini or macaroni both make good alternatives. This pasta dish is suitable for freezing.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- 500g good-quality pork sausages, skinned
- 1 white bread slice, whizzed to crumbs in a food processor
- 1 large free-range egg yolk
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 500g pack ziti (from Italian delis), snapped into 3, or macaroni or bucatini
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- 700g jar passata
- 300ml chicken stock, hot
- 50g grated Parmesan or Grana Padano
- Fresh thyme sprigs, to garnish
Method
- 1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onion, garlic and rosemary for 5 minutes until softened and golden.
- 2. Put the sausagemeat in a bowl. Mix in the fried onion, breadcrumbs, egg yolk, fennel seeds and some black pepper. Roll into walnut-size balls.
- 3. Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling, slightly salted water for 5 minutes, then drain well.
- 4. Tip the pasta into an ovenproof dish. Mix with the tomatoes, passata, stock and sausage balls. Season, scatter over the cheese and bake for 30-40 minutes until the sausage balls are cooked through.
- 5. Cool completely, then wrap in cling film and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating at 190°C/fan 170°C/gas 5 for 30 minutes until piping hot – cover with foil if it’s browning too much. Garnish with fresh thyme sprigs to serve
Nutritional info
Per serving (based on 6): 685kcals, 28.5g fat (10.2g saturated), 28.2g protein, 85g carbs, 7g sugar, 2.4g salt
Chef's tip
Slightly undercook the pasta – it will finish cooking in the oven.
Baking the pasta dishes before freezing prevents the pasta sticking together.
You can reheat these in the microwave. Defrost, cover with cling film and cook for 4-5 minutes or until piping hot.