It’s the 31st of August, marking Merdeka Day in Malaysia and a Bank Holiday here in the UK. Either way, it is a public holiday and a day off work for everyone.
Everyone except us. We are in the middle of some renovation works and Mr Gochugaru and I have spent the past 48 hours clearing up after the painter-decorator left for the weekend.
We have lived in our house for 36 years and are very hands on with DIY, but a 4 metre high wall and the well of a high ceiling skylight have always defeated us. Then there was the complex wooden staircase, the varnishing of which required the removal of a dozen bannisters and the replacement of 92 specialised screws and rubberised nuts (this needs a separate post, really).
It would be too dull to write about the work and the clearing up we have done. Here is what we are having for dinner tonight, because Waitrose gave us a complimentary packet of sausages.
Choose your favourite type of dried pasta. Our family likes casareccia
Use any type of passata/ tomato-based sauce, a tin of chopped or whole tomatoes (crush the latter first) and any type of pitted olives
For the Sauce:
800 g pork sausages
100 g onion, halved and sliced
20 g garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
320 g – 400 g dried pasta
(keep aside ½ a cup of the pasta cooking water)
350 g passata or tomato-based sauce
400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
60 g pitted olives, sliced
¼ teaspoon golden caster sugar
Any herbs you have to hand, chopped
How to Make:
STEP 1
Preheat the oven to 170 C fan/ 190 C electric.
Place the onion, garlic, chilli and oil on the base of a large baking tray.
Remove the casing from the sausages and roll into meatballs, around 25 g each meatball.
Place the meatballs on top of the onion mix.
Bake in the oven for half an hour.
STEP 2
Whilst the sausages are in the oven, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil.
Cook the pasta for the recommended cooking time.
When the pasta is ready, keep aside ½ a cup of the pasta water.
Drain the pasta into a colander, place it back in the pot, add a splash of olive oil and keep aside.
STEP 3
By now the sausages would have finished cooking.
Remove the baking tray from the oven.
Scrape the sausages, onions etc into a large casserole.
Add the passata, tinned tomatoes, olives and sugar.
Give everything a stir and if you think the sauce is too thick, add the ½ cup of reserved pasta water.
Add any chopped herbs you have to hand.
Simmer the sauce gently for 10 minutes.
Serve with the cooked pasta.
STEP 4
Go back to work after dinner. Tonight we have to pack up our bedroom and bathroom for another round of painting tomorrow.