Monday Night Pasta

Monday again. How quickly the weekend flies by and it's back to the daily drill of 9-5+ work days. Ho hum. Nothing too exciting happening on that front, i must admit. The only enjoyment (mostly) I get on weekdays is really at the end of the day when Im back home and standing at my stove, wondering what to prepare for Snail and Pig.

Today was different though. Today I ventured into work on my lovely Papillionaire Dutch style Powder blue Sommer two-wheeler and pondered the evening's delectable menu. Hmm,what was 1) simple, 2) quick and 3) involved minimal washing up afterwards? The answer wasn't too hard to come by.

Pasta of course! So here is my very easy, lazy Monday chop chop Kali pop (go see a Singlish dictionary) tomato based pasta.

Ingredients
Enough pasta for the number of people eating. I like to use big spirals as it holds the chunkiness well and tastes great with tomato bases
One large onion or several medium ones
Several cloves of garlic
Pepper - freshly cracked black
Sugar
Salt - I used Murray River pink salt
Fresh sausages - I used herb & garlic free range fresh sausages from my local market
1 can of Italian tomatoes
Fresh oregano leaves
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
Optional: spring onions finely chopped

Steps:
Boil a pot of water and salt it
While the water is boiling, dice the onion and garlic finely
If you're using spring onions, dice these too. A tip is to try and get the ingredients the same size so they cook evenly
Heat a large pan (I used a wok!) and a good amount of olive oil. Take care not to let the oil start smoking as that means it's burning and there'll be a weird taste in your food. My pan is Tefal so the red spot alerts me to when the pan is hot enough
Toss the onions and garlic (not the spring onions) into the pan and let it cook on medium heat until softened
By now the water should be boiling so add your pasta noodles to the water
Back to the pan/wok, using your hands squeeze the filling out of the sausages directly into the pan and use your ladle to break it up into smaller pieces depending on whether you like it chunky
Lightly fry the sausage mixture until gently browned and then add the canned tomatoes.
Make sure you use the ladle to break up the tomatoes especially if you're using whole ones
Lower the heat and let simmer.
The pasta should be cooked by now so drain it in a colander but retain some of the pasta water
Taste in between and season with salt, sugar and pepper to your liking. Continue to simmer for about 5-10min before throwing in the torn oregano leaves (and spring onion if you're using).
Cook further for another 2-3 mins and then add the drained pasta into the tomato mixture: toss to coat the pasta well, adding any pasta water if needed
Switch off the heat and dish into serving bowls. Scatter with toasted pine nuts and shaved Parmesan. (optional of course!)

Voila! Quick and easy pasta for those Monday morning blues. Bon qppetit!