Colourful Pasta Salad with Skinless Sausages (lightly dressed with harissa vinaigrette)

I am going through the phase of having a warm salad for dinner.

This salad has all the warmth (from the harissa) and the fiery colours that could brighten my otherwise dreary winter nights in Bathurst. Not to mention I have included skinless sausages – a newly discovered ingredient which I am currently obssessed with.

Plus it got all the ticks for the “Emily’s perfect meal checklist”:-

Carb? Tick.

Meat? Tick.

Veggie? Tick.

Flavour? Tick.

Substantial and filling? Tick.

Colourful Pasta Salad with Skinless Sausages (lightly dressed with Harissa Vinaigrette)

Generous servings for two

Ingredients:

• 375g / 13 oz colourful short pasta (I used 1 packet of San Remo’s Vegeroni Large Spirals)
• 300g / 11 oz skinless sausages aka ‘chevap’ – about 6 sausages ( can be purchased from Coles and Woolworths in a tray of 10 sausages)
• 1 small red bell pepper (capsicum), sliced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• A good handful of fresh mint leaves (they are more than just a garnish for this salad)

Harissa Vinaigrette

• 1 tsp harissa paste (I bought mine from a local grocer, Country Fruit Market Bathurst)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Juice from half a lime
• 1 tsp maple syrup (or golden syrup or honey) – please adjust to taste
• 1 tsp of soy sauce – please adjust to taste

Emily’s note – If you like more dressing, you could increase the olive to 1/2 cup, juice the whole lime, and add more maple syrup and soy sauce to taste.  Harissa paste is some spicy stuff. So I won’t recommend you to add more than 1 tsp (even 1 tsp may be too much for some of you who aren’t used to spicy food!). If you don’t have harissa paste at home, you can finely chop 1 fresh chilli and add a teaspoon of ground cumin.

Methods:

• Arrange the sausages on a baking paper lined tray. Cook them  in a preheated oven to 200 degrees Celsius/ 392 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes or until they are fully cooked.

• In the meantime, cook pasta in a salted water as per the packet instructions. Drained and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
• Slice onion and capsicum. Set aside with the pasta.
• Wash and trim the mint leaves. Set aside with the pasta.
• When the sausages are cooked, slice diagonally and set aside with the pasta.

•  To prepare the vinaigrette, add all the vinaigrette ingredients into a jug.

{Spicy harissa}

• Whisk all the ingredients until emulsify. Taste the dressing, add more maple syrup or soy sauce if necessary.

•  Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad. Mix all the salad ingredients together until well combined. Serve immediately.