Jerk Sausage Pasta
Recipes with Jerk Sausage
A diaspora kitchen move: jerk sausage crumbled into a coconut cream sauce with scotch bonnet, thyme, and spring onion. The heat from the sausage cuts through the fat of the cream. Penne or rigatoni catches the sauce in its ridges. This is not a traditional Jamaican dish; it is what happens when Jamaican cooking lands in London or Toronto and meets an Italian pantry.
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
25 min
Servings
4
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- 400g penne or rigatoni
- 4 jerk sausage links, casings removed
- 1 can (400ml) coconut cream
- 1 scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and finely chopped (use half for less heat)
- 4 spring onions, white and green parts separated, thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- Salt to taste
- Juice of half a lime
Steps
Cook the pasta in heavily salted boiling water until just al dente. Reserve 200ml of pasta water before draining.
Heat oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage meat and break it up with a wooden spoon. Cook for 6-7 minutes, pressing it into the pan, until browned in spots and cooked through.
Push the sausage to one side. Add the white parts of the spring onion, garlic, and scotch bonnet. Cook for 2 minutes until softened. Mix everything together.
Pour in the coconut cream and thyme. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, until the sauce thickens slightly. Add a splash of pasta water if it reduces too fast.
Add the drained pasta to the pan and toss over the heat for 1-2 minutes until coated. Squeeze in the lime juice, taste, and adjust salt. Scatter the green spring onion tops over the top and serve.
Tips
The sausage fat that renders out in step two is the base flavour of the whole dish. Do not drain it. The coconut cream emulsifies into that fat and the pasta water keeps the sauce moving. Scotch bonnet heat builds as the dish sits, so eat it quickly after plating.