Rigatoni with pork sausage, chilli, kale and pecorino

Ingredients

• 300 g rigatoni pasta
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 300 g Italian-style pork sausages
• 50 g butter
• 50 g eschallot and garlic confit (see Note), optional
• 150 g kale leaves, blanched, roughly chopped
• 3 egg yolks
• 50 g finely grated pecorino cheese

Instructions

1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions. Before draining, reserve 1.5 cups of pasta cooking water in a heatproof jug and set aside for the sauce.
2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan. While the pan is heating, squeeze the meat out of the Italian-style pork sausage casings, to form small meatballs around 10 g each. Add the sausage balls to the pan and cook until golden brown. Remove from the pan to a plate.
3. Once cooked, drain the pasta. Return the heavy-based saucepan to the heat with the butter and eschallot and garlic confit (see Note). Cook for 3 minutes, then return the sausage balls to the pan with 1 cup (250 ml) of reserved pasta cooking water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes, until the sauce begins to thicken.
4. Increase the heat to high, then add the drained pasta to the pan and toss well until the sauce coats the pasta. Add the kale and toss until heated through. Remove the pasta from the heat and stir through the egg yolks and pecorino cheese until well combined. If the sauce is too thick, add as much remaining pasta water as you like to reach your desired sauce consistency.
5. Divide the rigatoni with pork sausage, chilli, kale and pecorino between plates and serve immediately.

Note

• For the eschallot, garlic and chilli confit, combine 200 g finely chopped eschallots, 50g finely chopped garlic, 30 g small yellow chilli (you can substitute these with small Thai green chillies), 200 g grapeseed oil and ½ tsp sea salt in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook out for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, cool completely and refrigerate until required.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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