Creamy Sausage and Leek Pasta

Nothing beats a big bowl of hearty Pasta to warm you up on a cold evening. This comforting Creamy Sausage and Leek Pasta dish is the perfect bowl of goodness to feed the whole family on those cold Fall or Winter evenings. The dish is loaded with flavors and spice, and the addition of Cream gives the dish a luxurious and silky-smooth finish. It’s a very easy recipe to make, and elements can be prepared in advance making it a great choice for a midweek dinner to feed a hungry family

How to make Creamy Sausage and Leek Pasta

This wonderful dish is super-simple to make at home. You can prepare it all in one go or make the sauce in advance and finish it off just before serving. Either way, you’ll be looking at about 45 minutes in total to make this tasty dish

The first step in the recipe is to get your Pasta cooking. We use a lot of Pasta for this dish, a whole packet of 500g in fact. That’s what I love about this recipe, the quantities will ensure there’s no leftover Pasta that’ll just sit in the back of your pantry until the end of time. The whole 500g bag is used, and the ratio of Pasta to Sauce is perfect

For our Creamy Sausage and Leek Pasta, we used Ziti Penne Pasta. You can honestly use any type of Pasta that you like, but I prefer the thicker, chunkier styles for this dish. They’ll hold up well to the thick Creamy Sauce. Get them cooking in a large pot filled with a load of Salt until they’re just al-dente

Once cooked, strain the Pasta but reserve about ½ cup of Pasta Water. The starchy Pasta Water will help to give the final sauce a lovely silky-smooth texture. The remaining Pasta can be returned to the Pot where we’ll finish it off by combining it with the Sauce

While you Pasta is cooking you can begin to make the amazing Sauce

The Sauce is classically prepared and follows some fairly conventional cooking technique of flavor building in the pan. To kick things off you want to use a large frying pan (ideally with some high sides) or another large pot. Mainly because we’re dumping a lot of ingredients in there, so you’ll want enough room to stir everything around

Melt some Butter in the pot over medium heat before adding the combination of Diced Onions, Leeks, and Celery. Make sure you clean your Leeks well before slicing them up, as there’ll no doubt be dirt stuck between the fans of the Leek

I like to cut the Leeks lengthways and then dice. This way you’ll have these wonderful half-moon shaped pieces which offer a nice contrast to the diced Celery and Onions. Cook all these down with some Salt and Pepper for about 10 minutes until tender

Time to add some Aromatics

Once your Vegetables are tender we add freshly grated Garlic to the pan along with Tomato Paste and Fennel Seeds. The Fennel seeds bring a delicious anise flavor to the dish, and offer an amazing flavor contrast to the richness of the Creamy Sauce

You don’t need much, about 1 tsp. of Fennel Seeds will be more than enough to completely flavor the dish. At this point of the cooking process, you can also add some spice if you like. We’ve kept this optional but try adding some Chili Flakes or Cayenne Powder to give the dish a real kick!

Time to add the Spicy Italian Sausage

If you can, get your hands on the ground Spicy Italian Sausage from the grocery store. This ground Pork mixture is typically loaded with spices, so just be wary of how much additional spice to add to the dish based on the type of Sausage you’re using

I like to cook this all down while breaking it up in the pan for about 7- 8 minutes. Basically, cook it through completely and break it up using your wooden spoon so it’s evenly dispersed throughout the pan

Finishing the Sauce

The final touches to the Sauce are adding White Wine and then the Cream. We use about 1 cup of White Wine, which is cooked down for a few minutes to burn off the alcohol. Then you add the Heavy Cream. At this point, bring the sauce to a very low simmer and cook it for a further 10 minutes

If you want to prepare the sauce in advance we recommend completing every step up until adding the Cream. You can refrigerate the dish and re-heat it in the pan and then add the Cream right before serving. This is a great way to prepare this Creamy Sausage and Leek Pasta dish in advance

After 10 minutes, taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust it if necessary. The final step is to combine the Sauce with the freshly cooked Pasta. Add it all in there (the ratios of Sauce to Pasta work out perfect) along with ½ cup of that reserved Pasta Water. Mix it all through and then serve with a heaping pile of freshly grated Parmesan Cheese and it’s time to eat!

Creamy Sausage and Leek Pasta Recipe

Ingredients

• 500g Pasta (Ziti or Spirals)
• 1 tbsp. Unsalted Butter
• 2 Yellow Onions, finely diced
• 2 Leeks, finely diced
• 2 Celery Stalks, diced
• 4 Garlic Cloves, finely diced
• 1 tsp. Fennel Seeds
• 1 tbsp. Tomato Paste
• 1 lb. Ground Spicy Italian Sausage
• 1 cup of White Wine
• 1 tsp. Fresh Thyme
• 300g / 10 oz. Heavy Cream
• 2 tbsp. Parmesan Cheese, grated
• Salt and Pepper
  
  

Instructions

1. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Season well with Salt then add the Pasta and cook until al-dente (8 – 10 minutes). Once cooked, reserve ½ cup of Pasta Water then strain and set Pasta aside
2. While the Pasta is cooking place a large pot or frying pan over medium heat. Melt the Butter then add Onions, Leeks, and Celery and cook for 10 minutes until tender. Season with Salt and Pepper
3. Add the Garlic, Fennel Seeds, and Tomato Paste and cook for a further 1 minute until fragrant, then add the Ground Sausage
4. Cook for 6 – 7 minutes until the Sausage has all broken up and completely cooked through. Add the White Wine and simmer for 4 minutes then add the Heavy Cream and Thyme
5. Reduce the heat to a low simmer for 10 minutes while stirring occasionally. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary
6. Combine the Sausage and Cream Sauce with the cooked Pasta along with the reserved Pasta Water. Mix thoroughly and then serve with freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
   
   

Recipe Notes

• You can add a kick of heat to the dish by including Chili Powder or Cayenne Pepper when adding the Fennel Seeds
• You can prepare the Sauce in advance up to the point of adding the Heavy Cream. Then, simply add the Cream while you cook the Pasta when it’s dinnertime
  
  

This rich and delicious Creamy Sausage and Leek Pasta is the perfect hearty meal to feed a hungry family on a cold evening. The flavors are complex, yet the entire dish is so simple to prepare. Give this dish a try, we just know you’re going to love it!

For more hearty and tasty family dinners such as this one, check out these amazing recipes:

• Easy Chicken Burrito Bowls with Salsa
• Spicy Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce
• Cast Iron Fried Chicken
• Chicken and Mushroom Risotto
  
  

Happy Cooking!