Orecchiette pasta with rapini and fried sausages

Ingredients:

• 220 g sweet Italian pork sausages
• 220 g of spicy Italian pork sausages
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 6 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 x 400g cans of canned crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
• 0.5 cups dry red wine
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 450 gr. dry orecchiette pasta
• 2 bunches of rapini (about 1 kg total)
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Prick the sausages with a fork and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, turning once, until cooked through. Slice into 1 cm thick slices and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil, such as Le Creuset, in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage slices and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and their juices, red wine, tomato paste, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper, and let the sauce simmer while you cook the pasta and rapini.
3. Fill a very large saucepan halfway with water and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for exactly 9 minutes. While the pasta is cooking, trim the rapini just below the leaves and discard the stems. Cut the leafy portion crosswise into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces. After 9 minutes, add the rapini to the pasta and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes, until the pasta is al dente and the rapini is crisp-tender.
4. Drain in a large colander, reserving 0.5 cups of the liquid. Add the pasta and rapini to the saucepan. Stir in the Parmesan and 1 teaspoon of salt. If the pasta seems dry, add a little more liquid. Taste and serve, sprinkled with more Parmesan.