Pasta with pork sausage, zucchini and potato.

I once posted a story about combining pasta and potatoes in the same dish; an unusual combination but certainly not an unlikely one. Must have been a couple of years ago .... (conducts search) .... couple of years? - time flies: it was posted in February 2007. 

This is different; it combines pork with fennel in a pasta dish without tomato- or cream-based sauce, but simply relies on the fragrance and sheer good flavour of its core ingredients.

Pasta with pork sausage, zucchini and potato.

I diced a large white zucchini and fried it in olive oil, with half a diced onion and two cloves of garlic. When done, I reserved the zucchini; and in the same pan, fried the crumbled meat of four coarse de-cased pork and caramelised onion sausages with some more onion and a scattering of fennel seeds. Meanwhile, I peeled two medium potatoes and diced them into small pieces. These I boiled - they need only a few minutes or they will soften and break up.

For the pasta, I used the small twists of pasta known as trofie. These fold well through the cooked sauce and make a homely fragrant dish.

I don't think this combination needs the seemingly obligatory and cliched shower of parmesan cheese; a sprinkling of chopped parsley and finely grated lemon peel works extremely well instead.