This fennel sausage pasta is loud, spicy and a little bit boozy

Fennel sausage, gochujang and a splash of vodka make this bold pasta dish from Gurdeep Loyal a masterclass in big, unapologetic flavour

Paccheri never looked so punchy – this fiery, boozy pasta is all about maximum flavour with minimal effort (Patricia Niven)

“One of the leitmotifs of my cooking is fennel seeds – a signature ingredient used in both Punjabi and Italian cuisines – in almost everything. I adore the punchy lemony-anise hit they bring to any dish, sweet and savoury,” says chef and food writer Gurdeep Loyal.

“For this reason my usually sparse refrigerator is rarely without Italian fennel sausages – grilled whole to a blackened char for the ultimate sarnies, or split open to sizzle in a pan for dreamy fennel sausage ragus.

“The spicy-savouriness of gochujang is the perfect note to add to this aniseedy chord, amped up further by the taste-magnifying effects of vodka. With flavours this loud, only very gigantic pasta – like satisfyingly huge paccheri – will do. The bigger the better!”

Fennel sausage, gochujang and vodka paccheri

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large red onion, finely chopped

2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

350g fennel sausages, cases removed

2 tbsp gochujang

200g Tenderstem broccoli, ends trimmed

2 tbsp tomato purée (paste)

4 tbsp vodka

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar

200g baby plum tomatoes, halved

125g soured cream

200g paccheri or rigatoni

Fine sea salt

For the pangrattato topping:

35g butter

2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste

2 tsp herbes de Provence

50g panko breadcrumbs

2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan

Method:

‘Flavour Heroes’ is Gurdeep Loyal’s guide to the modern, multicultural store cupboard (Quadrille)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan, then gently fry the onion with a pinch of salt over a medium heat for 4 minutes. Next add the fennel seeds and sausage meat, and cook for 5 minutes until the meat starts to take on a little colour. Stir in the gochujang and cook for another minute.

2. Next, add the broccoli and 1¼ teaspoons of salt, cooking for 4 minutes until tender. Now stir in the tomato purée, vodka, balsamic vinegar and sugar, combining well.

3. Add the plum tomatoes, cover with a lid and cook over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes until they start to collapse into the sauce. Finally, stir through the soured cream, and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and leave for 30 minutes to let the flavours develop.

4. Meanwhile, make a crunchy pangrattato topping. Melt the butter in a frying pan, then add the garlic and dried herbs and fry for 1 minute. Add the breadcrumbs and Parmesan, and cook over a medium–high heat for 5 minutes until toasty and golden. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool completely and crisp up further.

5. Cook the pasta in a large pan of well-salted boiling water following the packet instructions. Drain, reserving a little of the pasta water.

6. Reheat the sausage sauce over a low heat, adding a little of the cooking water if needed, then stir through the pasta. Serve in large bowls with a very generous sprinkling of the crunchy pangrattato on top.

Recipe from ‘Flavour Heroes: 15 Modern Pantry Ingredients to Amplify Your Cooking’ by Gurdeep Loyal (Quadrille, £27).