Anna Barnett's Vegan Sausage Pappardelle

The combination of fennel and sage gives this pasta dish a fragrant mix of earthy yet sweet notes. It works brilliantly as a vegan dish too, packed full of flavour with a very similar texture to that of meat and is often a welcome change to classic spaghetti

Ingredients

Serves 4

For the fennel, sausage and sage

1 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, finely diced
2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly grated
400g of smoked tofu with sesame and almonds (Taifun is a great brand but any hard tofu will work) – blitzed or roughly chopped to a rough crumb
1 heaped tbsp fennel seeds
2 sprigs of sage, leaves pickled and roughly chopped
3 sprigs of rosemary
3/4 pint of vegetable stock
Sprinkle of sea salt flakes
Generous sprinkle of white pepper
1 tbsp of freshly ground black pepper
350g Pappardelle

For the garnish

40g Pecorino or vegan cheese alternative (optional), finely grated
3 sprigs of sage, leaves picked
½ lemon plus zest

Method

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20-30 minutes

Preheat a Miele Oven to 190°c.
Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan then add in the diced white onion. Cook over a medium to low heat until soft and translucent for around 6-7 minutes then remove from the pan and set to one side. Place your pan back on the hob and increase the heat. Add a good glug of oil and once hot add in the blitzed tofu and allow to turn crisp and golden.
Next add in the garlic, fennel seeds, a sprinkle of sea salt flakes, pepper and the fresh herbs and fry for a further 2-3 minutes. Pour in the stock and place in the oven and allow to cook for a further 10-15 minutes so that the flavours infuse.
For the crispy sage leaves, place several generous glugs of olive oil in a small frying pan over a high heat. Once hot (test with one leaf first, it needs to fizz immediately) fry the sage leaves in batches until darkened and crisp. Drain on paper towel.
For the pasta, use the steam function on a Miele Steam Combination Oven. Place the dry pasta in a pan and cover with boiling water ensuring that the pasta is well covered then transfer to the oven and steam cook for 16-18 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Remove the pasta, transferring using tongs and place straight into the tofu, along with a splash of the pasta water and thoroughly combine. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.
Serve with a generous helping of crispy sage, a good squeeze of lemon juice plus zest and some finely grated Pecorino or vegan cheese alternative. If reheating the pasta, the Steam Function on the Miele Steam Combination Oven is a brilliant option. Add 80% humidity to the oven cavity and reheat for 2-3 minutes, removing the risk of drying out the meal.

About the Author

Food writer and author, Anna Barnett lives in East London and currently contributes to The Evening Standard, while running her own website and cookery classes. Anna has written two cookery books, ‘Eat The Week’ and ‘How to be Gluten Free and Not Lose Friends’ as well as writing a guest column for the Independent for several years entitled, ‘The Reluctant Vegetarian’ and contributing to Grazia and Vogue. Website: www.annabarnettcooks.com/about Instagram: @annabarnettcooks