Oven Baked Sicilian Sausage, Aubergine & Fennel Tortiglioni

Before you begin...

This recipe takes around 5-10 min to prep, so get your casserole dish and all your ingredients ready, then wash your fruit and veg

Note: Make sure your dish is oven-proof and safe to use on the hob. Don't have one? Start cooking in a large, wide-based pan then transfer to an oven-proof dish and cover tightly with foil

Now, let's get started!

Preheat the oven to 220°C/ 200°C (fan)/ gas 7 and boil a kettle

Trim the green stalk[s] off your aubergine[s] and chop into bite-sized pieces

Heat a large, wide-based hob-safe oven-proof casserole dish with a matching lid with a generous drizzle of olive oil over a high heat

Once hot, add the chopped aubergine with a generous pinch of salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 min or until starting to brown

Meanwhile, deseed your sweet pointed pepper[s] (scrape the seeds and pith out with a teaspoon) and cut into thin strips

Peel and chop your red onion[s] into wedges

Once the aubergine has started to brown, add your sausage meat (remove the paper if required!) and break it up with a wooden spoon

Once the sausage meat has been broken up, add the sliced pepper and onion wedges with your chilli flakes (can't handle the heat? Go easy!) and fennel seeds (not a fan of aniseed? Only add a little!)

Cook for 30 secs or until fragrant

Once fragrant, add your chicken stock mix, chopped tomatoes and pasta to the dish with 400ml [520ml] [680ml] boiled water

Nestle the pasta into the water as much as you can, then stir everything together and bring to the boil over a high heat

Cover with a lid and put the dish in the oven for 25-30 min or until the pasta and sausage meat is cooked through (no pink meat!) – this is your oven baked Sicilian sausage, aubergine & fennel pasta

Tip: Give everything a stir halfway through for evenly cooked pasta!