Vegan Sausage Pasta Bake

This combines tasty pieces of meat-free sausage and penne, in a rich tomato and vegetable pasta sauce. I’ve included how I make the pasta sauce, alternatively you can use a 500g jar of shop-bought pasta sauce to cut down on the cooking time. For the sausages, I used Wheaty Vegan Hot Dogs, which I felt worked really well. But there are so many different vegan sausages available now, so feel free to use your favourite. For the dairy-free cheese, I chose to use Gouda-style by Sheese, which melts beautifully. But again, there are so many different vegan cheeses out there now, so feel free to use your favourite

Yield: Four servings Cook time: 40 minutes

You’ll need:

One tablespoon of oil
One small red onion, chopped
One stick of celery, diced
One small carrot, diced
Two cloves of garlic, minced
One and a half 400g tins of plum tomatoes, blended until smooth
Half a teaspoon of both basil and oregano
300g (this is the dry, uncooked weight) pasta
200g meat free sausages, cooked and sliced into pieces
100g dairy-free cheese, grated
Two tablespoons of breadcrumbs
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat, once it’s warmed up, add in the onion, celery and carrot. Give the vegetables 10 minutes to cook, stirring every now and then
Then add garlic and stir it through the vegetables, give it five minutes to cook
Then add the tomatoes and herbs, pop a lid on the saucepan, and leave the sauce to simmer for 15 minutes
While the sauce simmers, cook the pasta as per the instructions on the pack. Knock a couple of minutes off the pasta cooking time, as it will continue to cook while it bakes
Cook the sausages as per the instructions on the pack, then slice into bite-sized pieces
Once the pasta is cooked, drain away the water, then stir the sauce and sausage pieces through it. Spoon the pasta into a air-fryer safe/oven-safe dish, and top with an even layer of the grated cheese. Finally top with breadcrumbs
Either air fry at 200°C for ten minutes, or bake in the oven at 200°C/180°C fan-assisted for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted, and the breadcrumbs have toasted and turned golden brown
Leave to stand for five minutes before serving