Fusilli Pasta with Sausages and Bruschetta

Cheesy fusilli pasta, tomato sauce and cocktail sausages with bruschetta

If spag bol and macaroni cheese are the limits of your experiences with pasta, there can be little doubt that you are missing out on many of the endless, tasty possibilities afforded by this incredibly versatile foodstuff. While plain pasta and nothing else would of course represent a pretty bland meal, the number of other ingredients that go with pasta to form quick, easy, often healthy meals is limited only by our own imaginations and levels of inventiveness. It can also be a great accompaniment for using up leftovers, as was the case here with the mini cocktail sausages. I hope you'll give this dish - or something like it - a try.

Measuring out fusilli pasta

Ingredients per Person

1 coffee mug of dried fusilli pasta
Salt
10 mini cocktail sausages
Vegetable oil for frying
8 ounce can chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
2 garlic cloves - 1 peeled and grated for sauce, 1 peeled and crushed for bruschetta
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling on bruschetta
Generous pinch dried oregano
Generous pinch dried basil
Black pepper
2 ounces cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
1 sun dried tomato ciabatta bread roll, halved horizontally
Rolled and sliced basil leaves to garnish

Fusilli pasta added to boiling, salted water

When cooking pasta, there is a common myth that adding olive oil to the water will stop the pasta sticking together. In fact, it does nothing of the sort - the oil simply floats on top of the water and represents nothing more than a waste of oil. In order to stop pasta sticking together, the key is to have plenty of water in the pan to dilute the starch. The water should also be very heavily salted. Add the pasta to rapidly boiling water, reduce the heat and simmer for ten minutes.

Frying mini cocktail sausages in oil

Gently fry the cocktail sausages in a little vegetable oil for seven or eight minutes until done, while the pasta is simmering.

Fusilli pasta is thoroughly drained

Drain the pasta through a colander or sieve and add temporarily to a small bowl or deep plate.

Drained fusilli pasta and cocktail sausages are set aside

Drain the cocktail sausages on kitchen paper and set aside with the pasta.

Grated garlic clove and olive oil

Pour the olive oil in to a saucepan and add the grated garlic. Fry very gently for thirty seconds or so.

Canned tomatoes and herbs are added to garlic infused oil

Pour the tomatoes in to the saucepan and season with the basil, oregano and black pepper. Bring to a simmer for about five minutes, stirring frequently.

Fusilli pasta and cocktail sausages are added to tomato sauce

Add the pasta and sausages to the sauce, carefully fold through and simmer for a couple of minutes until fully reheated. Put your grill/broiler on to preheat to maximum.

Fusili pasta and cocktail sausages in tomato sauce added to serving dish

Pour the pasta and sauce mix in to a suitable dish and scatter with the grated cheese.

Grated cheese scattered over tomato pasta and sausages

Put the dish under your grill to melt the cheese.

Sun dried tomato ciabatta roll

Lightly toast the cut ciabatta roll under the grill when you have removed and plated the pasta dish (be sure to lift the dish using oven gloves!)

Cheese melted over tomato pasta and sausages

Rub the cut sides of the toast with the crushed garlic clove, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Toasted ciabatta ready to be rubbed with garlic and oiled

Cut each slice of bread in half diagonally.

Sun dried tomato ciabatta bruschetta

Garnish the pasta with the chopped basil leaves.

Basil is scattered over the cheesy tomato fusilli and sausages

Plate the bruschetta with the pasta and tuck in.

Tucking in to fusilli pasta with sausages and bruschetta

Swordfish Steak on Fusilli Pasta Salad

Seared swordfish steak is served on a warm fusilli pasta salad

Swordfish is a beautiful eating fish, not dissimilar to tuna. It is not however always easy to get hold of and even where it is available, care should be taken to ensure the fish comes from a sustainable source. If you're buying swordfish in the United Kingdom, this is easily checked by looking in your supermarket or fishmonger's for the blue tick of the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) which signifies compliance with this important factor.

The most important thing to remember when cooking swordfish is that it must never be overcooked. In a similar way to both tuna and salmon, it is served and enjoyed at its best when still slightly pink and ostensibly underdone in the centre. Cook it too much and it will become dry and overly flaky.
  

Simple Mediterranean style salad ingredients

Ingredients per Person

1 swordfish steak
1 medium tomato, seeded and finely diced
2 inch piece of cucumber, seeded and finely diced
3 large basil leaves, finely sliced (2 for salad and 1 to garnish)
1 clove of garlic, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying swordfish
Salt and pepper
4 ounces dried fusilli pasta

Simple salad prepared for fusilli pasta

Directions

Begin by assembling the salad to give the flavours maximum infusion time. The tomato, cucumber, basil, garlic and olive oil are all combined in a bowl with some seasoning. Cover with clingfilm until required.

Fusilli pasta

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta, stir well but briefly and simmer for around ten minutes or until al dente.

Fresh swordfish steak

When the pasta is almost ready, drizzle some olive oil in to a small frying pan and bring it up to a high heat. Season the swordfish steak on both sides with salt and pepper and lay it in the hot pan.

It is important to watch the swordfish cook if it is to be cooked correctly. The time it will take to cook will depend upon the thickness of the steak. What you are watching for is the steak appearing to have cooked one-third of the way up the side. At this stage, it should be turned to cook a third of the way up the other side. This thin steak required only about one minute on each side.

Pan searing a swordfish steak

When the swordfish has been turned, drain the pasta through a colander at your sink and return it to the empty pot. Add the prepared salad and stir well with a wooden spoon. Taste and adjust the seasoning if required before stirring again.

Salad is added to drained fusilli pasta

Spoon the pasta in to a deep serving plate to form an effective bed for the swordfish.

Fusilli pasta salad is plated to form a bed for the swordfish

Lift the swordfish on to the fusilli bed, scatter with the remaining basil strips and serve immediately.

Swordfish steak is laid on fusilli pasta salad