Creamy red pesto sausage rigatoni
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 10 to 30 mins
- Serve
- Serves 2
No chopping, no fuss and ready in just 15 minutes, this creamy sausage rigatoni is an ideal speedy dinner. Plant-based sausages are tossed with pasta in a rich sun-dried tomato and silken tofu sauce for an easy midweek meal with minimal prep.
By Rhian Melvin
Ingredients
- 150–200g/5½–7oz dried pasta, such as rigatoni
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 large or 6 small plant-based sausages, casings removed
- 300g/10½oz silken tofu
- 150g/5½oz sun-dried tomatoes
- 10g/⅓oz basil, plus extra to serve
- 15g/½oz pine nuts, toasted
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ½ lemon, juice only
- salt
Method
Cook the pasta in a saucepan of boiling water according to the packet instructions. Reserve some of the pasta cooking water before draining.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large deep frying pan over a medium-high heat.
Add the sausages to the frying pan. Break them into small pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula and fry until golden with crisp edges.
Put the silken tofu, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, pine nuts, garlic, nutritional yeast and lemon juice in a blender. Blend until smooth.
Stir the blended sauce into the drained pasta. Gradually add splashes of the reserved pasta cooking water, stirring until the pasta is coated in a smooth, glossy sauce. Add the cooked sausages and stir to coat in the sauce.
Season with salt, spoon into bowls and top with fresh basil leaves.
Recipe tips
Add vegetables such as cherry tomatoes, Tenderstem broccoli, courgette, spinach or kale.
If making this for leftovers, cook the pasta very slightly less than usual and loosen the sauce with a little extra pasta cooking water. The pasta will soften further when reheated and the sauce will thicken as it chills.
Cool any leftovers, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat until piping hot throughout.
