Mains
Friariello pepper and sausage pasta
Friariello is a sweet, thin-skinned Italian frying pepper from Naples, where it's fried in olive oil with garlic and served with sausages. Here the same combination becomes a quick pasta, with a pinch of chilli flakes for warmth.
The long green peppers crop heavily through summer. Pick them green and young for frying; left on the plant they ripen red and sweeter.
- Prep 10 min
- Cook 20 min
- Total 30 min
- Serves 4
Ingredients
- 400 g short pasta, such as rigatoni or orecchiette
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 400 g Italian-style pork sausages, skins removed
- 300 g friariello peppers, stems removed, sliced into rings
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 125 ml pasta cooking water
- 40 g parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Method
-
Step 1
Cook the pasta
Cook the pasta in a large pot of well-salted boiling water until al dente. Save a cup of the cooking water before draining.
-
Step 2
Brown the sausage
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Break the sausage meat into small pieces and fry for 6 to 8 minutes until browned. Lift out and set aside.
-
Step 3
Fry the peppers
Add the rest of the oil and the peppers to the pan and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and lightly golden. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for 1 minute.
-
Step 4
Bring together
Return the sausage to the pan, add the drained pasta and 125 ml of the cooking water, and toss over the heat until glossy. Stir through the parmesan and season.
-
Step 5
Serve
Serve straight away with extra parmesan.
Grow your own
The chillies in this recipe are easy to grow from seed in New Zealand.
