Sardinian pasta with fennel sausage and saffron

Place the semolina with the salt in a bowl of a food processor fitted with a dough hook. Turn on the machine and slowly pour in the water. Let it run for about 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic and slightly sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for half an hour.

Dust the work surface with some semolino. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it with your hands for another minute. Divide it into pieces of 100 grams. Then roll it out with your hands into a long roll of half a cm thickness. Then cut into 2 cm pieces. Roll each piece over a fork or ribbed wooden board.

Place them on a tea towel dusted with semolina until the sauce is ready.

Place the olive oil in a large sauté pan. Sauté the onion over low heat until translucent. Add the sausage, increase the heat and cook, breaking up the sausage with a wooden spoon.

When the meat is nicely browned, add the wine and saffron. Let the alcohol evaporate and add the canned tomatoes with the bay leaf and some pepper. Bring to the boil and put a lid on the pan to simmer for 20 minutes.

Put on a large pot of water with salt. Add the pasta when the water boils. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes until al dente. Drain and keep some of the cooking liquid.

Add the pasta to the sauce with more than half of the pecorino. Stir well and add some cooking water from the pasta if necessary.

Serve on warm plates and sprinkle with some more Pecorino.