Penne with Black Pudding and Tomato Sauce

Every now and then, like a magpie, I see something glinting at me and I have to make it mine.  I don't go in for collecting shiny objects but I do collect and store memories of recipes that I have seen.  Tonight's menu is just one of those captured objects.  As soon as the words "spaghetti with black pudding" flashed across my twitter feed I knew that I had to make it mine.

I love black pudding and I have never come across a variation of blood sausage that I haven't liked.  The German and French varieties are a bit on the soft side for my liking but as with most things in life I'll take the Pepsi Challenge*.  Knowing that I needed to cook this as soon as possible, I added black pudding to the shopping list and the rest is history.

The recipe was from Eat Like A Girl and I am very glad that I noticed it.  The sauce is so simple to make and cheap to boot, that we'll definitely be cooking it again.  The heavy seasoning from the black pudding really shone through the sauce like no bolognese ever could.  We will reduce the amount of sugar from the recipe in future as the tomatoes and black pudding were more than sweet enough for us.

*for those too young to remember, the Pepsi challenge was dreamt up by fizzy pop merchants Pepsi to convince the world that their cola drink was better than anybody else's cola drink.  Everybody in the known world states a preference for Pepsi, Coca Cola, Rolla Cola or even a supermarket own brand but lets be honest, who when ordering Coke in a bar turns down a drink after the barman tells you that they have a different brand? No body that's who.  I'm the same with Black Puddings.  I know the Bury pudding is great, I love the Scottish variety, I'm not mad on the Irish version, but I'm happy to take whatever is on offer.