Ingredients

• 2 x Cup grated parmigiana regiano cheese

• 1 x Cups grated pecorino romano cheese (reserve 1/2 cup for serving sprinkle)

• 1 x Tablespoon ground black pepper (see note)

• 300g x Sardinian sausage. Remove skins, filling only. We appreciate your butcher may not have true Sardinian Sausage on hand so a best quality Italian Sausage filling will do nicely.

• Olive oil – best quality

• 2 x Tablespoons tomato paste

• 2 x Teaspoons dried thyme leaves

• 30g x Butter

• 300g x Bucatini No.6 pasta or similar

• Chopped parsley

• 1 x Tablespoons lemon zest

Preparation

This is a simple recipe with a lot of words and is based on 500g of the pasta ie serving four people. For lesser amount of pasta the ingredients will need to be adjusted.

Starting with the Sardinian side of the recipe and the Italian sausages, slice open the sausages length wise and using a spoon remove the filling.

Then, in a hot thick bottomed pan with a little olive oil, break up the sausage meat to small pieces and brown to be almost cooked, adding the tomato paste to the bottom of the hot pan to remove the tomato paste bitterness (2 minutes).

Add a touch more olive oil to the tomato paste if drying out then add the thyme and butter and stir gently.

Next grate the cheese using the smallest or second smallest openings of the grater, add the pepper, mix well and set aside.

These first two stages may be done a little in advance.

Now, add the pasta to the boiling water and while the pasta is cooking to just below al dente (8 minutes) place the cheese/pepper mix in a blender.

Progressively add two tablespoons of olive oil and gently blend to form a slightly runny texture or paste, using a little of the cooking pasta water if needed.

Then return the sausage meat to the pan ( medium hot ) and add the cooked pasta from the boiling water directly onto the sausages meat. For best pasta flavour do not use a colander to drain, simply take the pasta directly from the pasta water to the pan. The pasta flavoured water is essential.

Now carefully, step by step, fold the cheese/pepper paste into the pasta, adding a little of the reserved pasta water as you go, however, the pasta should be creamy not watery.

Add the lemon zest and chopped parsley at the finish together with the sprinkle of the grated pecorino romano cheese.

Important: The cooked pasta water is essential to this recipe.

Comments: Unfortunately this recipe will not work for everyone on a No Salt diet. However, for the Salt Reduced team the salt in the cheese and the sausage will mean no further salt need be added, including salt in the boiling water. This obviously depending on your diet.