Spicy Sausage & Courgette Pasta

Ingredients

• 6 pork sausages, skins removed
• 700 ml chicken stock
• 300 g dried conchiglie
• 2 courgettes, halved and sliced
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 120 ml double cream
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 40 g parmesan, grated
• Fine salt and black pepper

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.
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 complete on its own, 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, double cream will split if it hits direct heat. Stir through the double cream, lemon zest, lemon juice and half the parmesan until everything turns glossy and bound. Taste and add salt or lemon if needed; it should be bright and savoury with a low chilli warmth. Divide between warm bowls and finish with the remaining parmesan.