Summertime ragu

It's too warm for a good old fashioned Spaghetti Bolognaise, but my love of pasta means I had to get creative, resulting in this, a slightly more summery ragu recipe. It uses chicken and sausage, and as many fresh herbs as you can find. Serves 4.

1 onion

4 cloves garlic (or more, because garlic is pretty great)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 yellow or red capsicum

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1 handful fresh rosemary

1 handful fresh thyme

1 handful fresh oregano

1 chicken breast

2 sausages

1 handful fresh basil

300g fettucine or spaghetti

Finely chop the onion and garlic. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, and fry them until soft. Chop the capsicum roughly, and add to the pan. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the capsicum starts to soften.

Finely chop the rosemary, and throw that into the pan too, along with the tin of chopped tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes or so with the heat up quite high, until it starts to reduce slightly. Now would be a good time to start boiling a large pan of water and cooking your pasta as well. 

Cut a slit in the side of your sausages, and squeeze out the sausage meat, throwing away the casing. Chop up the chicken up into small-ish pieces, and add the chicken and sausage meat to the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes or so until the chicken has started to brown. Give everything a stir occasionally, and the sausage meat will break up slightly, thickening your sauce and just waiting to coat all your pasta. Finely chop the thyme, and strip the oregano leaves from their stalks, and add to the pan. 

Slice the cherry tomatoes in half, and add to the sauce along with the basil leaves. Cook for another 5 minutes. Drain your pasta, saving a little of the water in case you want to thin out the sauce. Add to the frying pan, give everything a good stir to coat the pasta, and you're ready to eat. If it seems too thick, add a little of the water. Great with a little parmesan on top and a salad on the side.