Wednesday 6 August 2008

Hot Lemon Asparagus Bucatini with a Scottish Twist!

Have you ever tried bucatini? (At least I think it's bucatini - it could well be maccheroncelli or perciatelli. If anyone knows the difference - check out below and let me know what you think!) It's a long hollow pasta, kind of a cross between spaghetti and macaroni, and it's perfect for eating with smooth sauces.

I picked up a packet of bucatini a few weeks ago, and set about making up a smooth sauce. This is from my backlog - when I constantly had a fridge full of asparagus and had just made my Scottish sausage.

Because I invented this all by myself, I'm sending it over to Lore at Culinarty for her Original Recipes event...

And because it's pastalicious I'm sending it to Michelle at the Greedy Gourmet, who is hosting Presto Pasta Night this week...

And (yes, another one!) because this is cheap as chips (or as close as!) it is going to be my first submission for Frugal Fridays - the whole thing will feed a family of four for less than $10! And it's super healthy!



Hot Lemon Asparagus Bucatini with Crunchy Sausage Topping!

Serves 4 messy people...
  • 4 large tomatoes
  • 12 thick spears of asparagus
  • 1 onion
  • 2 clove garlic
  • 1/2 tsp hot sauce
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • The zest of one lemon
  • 150g Scottish sausage meat (or substitute with another sausage meat. If you have to.)
  • A couple of tbsps of fresh oregano leaves
  • A little olive oil to fry
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • salt to taste
  • bucatini to serve
Prepare the veg...
Trim the woody ends from the asparagus, and cut most of the spear into chunks - reserving the tips.
Chop up the onions and garlic - make 'em as chunky as you like - we're going to blitz it in the end anyway!
Chop up the tomatoes, skin, seeds and all.

Make the sauce...
Heat the olive oil over a medium heat, add the onions and garlic, then fry for a few minutes until softening. Throw in the tomatoes (along with any juice), the lemon zest, hot sauce and the tomato puree. Add the sugar and some salt - you can always add more salt later to taste, but it is better to add it as early as possible.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes - the tomatoes should release enough liquid to make the sauce, but if not, top up with water or stock.

Make the Crunchy Sausage Topping...
Meanwhile, break up the sausage meat into lumps and place into a medium, hot pan. You shouldn't need any oil as the sausage will release plenty. Fry for 5-6 minutes, keeping the sausage moving, breaking it up as it cooks. Once cooked, turn up the heat to high and fry for a minute or two without moving it to give a crunchy edge to the meat.

Finish the sauce...
After the 15 minutes is up, put in most of the oregano and the bits of asparagus stem - reserving the tips. Cook for another couple of minutes, then remove from the heat.

Put the sauce into a liquidiser or use a hand blender to blitz it to a smooth sauce.

Return to the heat, add the asparagus tips and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Put it all together!
Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet, then add to the pot of sauce. Mix well, so that the sauce sooks* into the pasta. Place into a bowl, top with the crunchy sausage pieces and the remaining oregano.

Eat!
This was the hardest bit - this is seriously messy pasta to eat! It was on the floor, face, sofa and cat by the time I was done. Worth it though!!



* Although not really a Scottish Scran post - the addition of the square sausage definitely warranted disclosure of another Scottish word!

Sook (v) - to suck
The best way tae eat this is tae sook it a' up an no worry aboot the mess yer makin'

Alternate use:
Sook (n) - a suck up/ brown-nose/ teacher's pet!
See her? She's a wee sook so'n she is!


Culinarty Original Recipe RoundupPresto Pasta Nights

Frugal Fridays

Related Posts



17 comments:

Deborah said...

Oh. Oh my. My, my my. Must go shopping for the ingredients. This sounds like the best pasta recipe I've read in ages. I think I'll try out the pack of venison sausage in my freezer. Maybe one day I'll be up to making my own - you make it look so easy!

Lore said...

I'd look at it this way: this was a giving-loving pasta dish that wanted to be eaten by anyone and anything (cat, sofa etc) :)
That Scottish sausage sounds like a delicious flavour injection to the dish.
Thank you for your entry Kittie!

Lore said...

Almost forgot: I love the pics in the new header!

Dragon said...

I've never tried bucatini but it looks so great I'm going to hunt for some. Your sauce looks amazing. This is a fine entry to the round up. :)

Laura Paterson said...

deborah - it was pretty easy... but I think venison would be lovely here! Thanks :)

Lol - in future lore, I'd prefer it if my sofa didn't want to eat tomato -based sauces ;)

Thanks Dragon! It was really good - just difficult to coax into my mouth ;)

vanillasugarblog said...

Ohhhhh I love bucatini! I can't find it; hard to find.
Thanks for your commments at my food blog. I'm so glad I found you, now I want bucatini!!! ha ha

Clumbsy Cookie said...

This must be a serious tasty dish! I love the shape of that pasta! It's like a pasta straw! And I believe you, it must be messy to eat but oh so worth it!

Adam said...

I didn't know what you meant by bucatini until I saw the picture. THEN I got it. It's cool, like a pasta straw.... which is good for slurping up sauce I bet :)

Great entry, it's three for the price of one.

Thanks for stopping by my blog, yours is a keeper too :)

Laura Paterson said...

thanks dawn - glad you like my blog - lol @ your new poll ;)

clumsby.. messy = gooooooood :D

Cheers Adam, thanks for stopping by!

Beth (jamandcream) said...

Ive never tried bucatinin before - my local supermarket definitely wont sell it!!

glamah16 said...

I have had Bucatini and love it. I cant find it all the time.Loving the new look!

Thistlemoon said...

Look at that delicious bucatini! WOW! I love the Scottish twist as well! It's kinda like me on a plate - Italian/Scottish. ;)

Laura Paterson said...

beth - check out online italian shops - they are often really good value for money too!

Thanks coco!

Lol @ you on a plate, Jenn! Are you messy too? ;)

Dee said...

You're sweet. You made this just for me, didn't you? :) By the way, is it okay if the corned beef sits for a little more than 6 days? I've lost track!

Anonymous said...

Well done, Kittie! You've proven that a family of 4 can eat for under a fiver here in the UK. What's more is that this meal was homecooked and tasted delicious too!

Laura Paterson said...

Dee - of course I did, honey... but then you didn't show. So I ate the lot through my tears ;)

I reckon you can get away with a couple of days longer for the corning - some sites said up to 14!!

Thank you Michelle! I'm going to be trying to do more reasonably priced dishes from now on.

Ruth Daniels said...

Great dish. Thanks for including it in all those roundups...and especially for sharing with Presto pasta Nights.