Spicy Sausage & Courgette Pasta

Ingredients

• 6 pork sausages, skins removed
• 700 ml chicken stock
• 300 g conchiglie pasta
• 2 courgettes, halved and sliced
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 120 g double cream
• 1 lemon, zest only
• 40 g parmesan, grated
• ciabatta, to serve
• crisp green salad, to serve

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large deep frying pan over a medium-high heat. Pinch small nuggets of sausage meat from the skins straight into the pan in a single layer — don't crowd it, work in two batches if you need to. Crowded meat steams instead of browning, and you want proper caramelised edges here. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, turning occasionally, until deeply bronzed and catching at the edges.
2. Drop in the shallots and courgettes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until softened, glossy and just starting to colour. The sausage fat is doing the seasoning work — let the courgettes pick it up.
3. Stir in the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant and pale gold. Watch it — burnt garlic turns the whole pan bitter, and you can't pull it back.
4. Tip in the conchiglie and pour over the chicken stock. The stock is doing two jobs: cooking the pasta and lifting the brown bits stuck to the base into the sauce. Season generously — the pasta has no other chance to take on salt, so the liquid should taste properly seasoned, like a well-salted soup. Bring to a brisk simmer.
5. Cook uncovered for 12 to 14 minutes, stirring regularly so the shells don't catch on the bottom. You're looking for tender pasta and a stock reduced to a silky, starchy coating that clings to every shell — not a soup, not dry, somewhere in between.
6. Pull the pan off the heat — this matters, the yoghurt will split if it hits direct heat. Stir through the Greek yoghurt, lemon zest, lemon juice and half the parmesan until everything turns glossy and bound. Taste now, season again. Adjust here, not at the table — it should taste bright and savoury with a low chilli warmth.
7. Divide between bowls, scatter over the remaining parmesan, and serve with ciabatta for mopping and a crisp green salad alongside.