Pasta with Tomatoes, Saffron and Sausage

A few years ago my dad got us Bugialli on Pasta. We've been hesitant to use it, partly because it seems more like a reference book than a cookbook and partially because its very apparent authenticity (recipes classified by regions of Italy) is intimidating.

I finally cooked from it though, and I definitely will again. The recipe below is an adaptation of "malloreddus alla camppidanese," a dish based in the island of Sardinia.


Pasta with Tomatoes, Saffron and Sausage

1 1/2 lbs. tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 lb. of Italian sausage, sweet or hot
1/2 cup olive oil
2 large whole cloves garlic, peeled
2 bay leaves
5 basil leaves
a couple pinches of saffron strands
1 lb. of pasta (we used spaghetti)
3/4 cup of grated cheese (romano, parmesan, mozarella, etc.)
Salt and pepper

(1) Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan until hot
(2) Remove casings from sausage and crumble into oil. Sautee until browned.
(3) Remove sausage to a plate and reserve it. Add whole garlic to the oil and cook for four minutes. Remove.
(4) Press tomatoes through a food mill or fine strainer into the oil, then add basil, bay leaves and saffron. Cook for about 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
(5) Meanwhile, cook the pasta, adding a pinch of crumbled saffron to the salted cooking water.
(6) Add drained pasta and sausage to sauce.
(7) Serve with cheese.

Serves 5-6


We would have liked a picture to go with this recipe, but we only made a half batch and it was almost gone before we thought about blogging on it. A picture can't capture the fragrance of tomatoes, saffron and garlic, however, which is what makes this dish so appealing. The sausage was good, too, but the dish would have still been tasty without it.

The original recipe uses sliced sweet sausage (we used hot), imported malloreddus pasta, tomato quarters and pecorino sardo cheese. Malloreddus pasta contains saffron, which I compensated for by adding saffron to the cooking water (the spaghetti without anything on it tasted good!) but maybe next time I'll seek out pecorino sardo.