If you are a visual learner, watch the quick recipe video before you start. Within the blog post, you will also find step by step picture instructions plus recipe FAQs and Tips
Prep Steps
Open the pack of fresh spaghetti and cut the uncooked pasta bundle at either end. This will shorten the spaghetti strands, and make it easier to pan-fry the spaghetti later in the recipe. If you are using dried spaghetti you can snap the strands into shorter pieces
Cook the spaghetti. Use the cook time on the pack as a guide,but cook it for a slightly shorter time than recommended, as the spaghetti will be pan-fried as well. The Countdown spaghetti I used has a recommended cook time of 4 minutes, I cooked it for 3 minutes. Once cooked drain the cooking water and rinse under running water. I do this in a colander
Remove the casing from the sausages. I find the easiest way to do this is to slice the casing lengthwise, flip the sausage over then pull the casing from one end, it should easily pull off
Break the sausage meat up into bite-size pieces, I find it easiest to do this with my fingers
Grate 1 cup of cheese
Cooking Steps
Heat the olive oil in a deep fry pan, wok or skillet over a medium high heat
Add the small bite-sized pieces of Italian sausage meat. Pan fry until golden, they will release their flavours into the oil
Add the cooked spaghetti, fry with the oil and sausage, the spaghetti will absorb the oil and flavours, you can fry for either a short time so that the spaghetti remains soft, or you can go a little longer, it will crisp up just a little
Add the frozen spinach, peas and stock, I let the veggies just sit on top of the spaghetti
Cover skillet with a lid for 2 minutes
Remove the lid, add the grated cheese and stir, so that the cheese, veggies and sausage are evenly distributed amongst the sausage
Season to taste with salt and pepper
Serve
Video
Notes
You can sub dried spaghetti for the fresh spaghetti, you will need around 200-250g of dried spaghettiThis recipe will not work with a pre-cooked sausage, look for a good quality pork sausage. Italian sausages typically have additional herbs and spices that work well in pasta dishesI used a block cheddar cheese in this recipe, parmesan also works beautifullyRinsing your spaghetti under the tap will remove the excess starch from the spaghetti making it better for frying. (Please note this tip is great for this style of fried pasta dish, however, if you are cooking a saucy pasta, don't rinse it under the tap, as it's this starch which helps bind a sauce to the pasta.)