O Tama Carey has made a name for herself in Sydney’s dining scene, spotlighting Sri Lankan fare at her Darlinghurst eatery Lankan Filling Station. And after a stint working with her there, Scott McComas-Williams went on to become executive chef of the Love Tilly Group, heading up venues like Ragazzi, Fabbrica and Palazzo Salato – where the pair recently reunited for a special evening in the kitchen.

Broadsheet, food critic and TV personality Melissa Leong, and Barossa Valley winemaker Cat Amongst the Pigeons brought the pair together for a one-off dinner party combining bold Sri Lankan and Italian flavours.

“We tasted and picked the wines we liked best, and built the menu around that, which is quite fun, because Cat Amongst the Pigeons wines are big flavour profiles,” McComas-Williams says.

Missed out? Now the pair are sharing the recipe for one of the dishes served that night – cavatelli with black curry sausage – so you can get a taste of their talents at home.

“This was one of my absolute favourite dishes from the night – a Lankan riff on a classic Palazzo Salato-style combo,” McComas-Williams says. “Carey’s intense and aromatic black curry powder gives our classic sausage recipe a spicy boost that pairs so well with Cat Amongst the Pigeons grenache.”

The Barossa Grenache from the Fat Cat range is rich and full-bodied with fruit and spice: think a touch of Christmas cake with a toasty oak finish. Carey’s complex spice mix gives the meaty pasta a depth of flavour that can stand up to this serious drop.

The 14 spices need to be toasted in distinct batches, to particular colours. With all types of heat coming from pepper, mustard and chilli – toasted to the point of almost being burnt – Carey recommends keeping a window open during this step.

McComas-Williams is known for playing with different cuisine influences, and this is no exception.

“We make our own sausages from whole Tathra Place pigs … For this, we omitted the Italian seasonings like fennel and rosemary and hit it with the black curry instead. Carey does a black curry with pork neck at Lankan Filling Station, so it’s the best combo.”

Cavatelli is also the perfect shape for this chunky sauce, with the pasta and sausage roughly the same size. “Cavatelli is a wonderfully chewy, handmade semolina shape from southern Italy that is super easy to make and pairs so well with something meaty and chunky,” McComas-Williams says. “The ridges on the cavatelli capture that lovely sauce; little flecks of sausage fall into the grooves.”

Cavatelli’s an entry-level pasta, with a less messy and more forgiving dough. You’ll need a gnocchi board, but of you can’t find one, you can roll the pasta across a wooden board with your thumb or two fingers. McComas-Williams says dried pasta is also fine, as long as it’s the right size, or you can substitute with conchiglie or casarecce.

Cavatelli with black curry sausage

Serves 4
Preparation time: 90 minutes, plus 30 minutes dough resting time
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

250g semolina
250g 00 flour
225ml water

Lankan black curry powder (makes approximately 130g)
16g coriander seeds
16g cumin seeds
16g nigella seeds
8g fennel seeds
20g mustard seeds
16g black peppercorns
8g curry leaves
1g pandan leaf, cut into 5mm pieces
5g cardamom seeds
5g cloves
3g cinnamon quill, roughly crushed
16g chilli powder
16g chilli flakes
1g freshly grated nutmeg

Sauce
600g chunky pork sausage
100g Lankan black curry powder
60ml olive oil
1 handful curry leaves
500ml chicken stock
100g unsalted butter
30ml Nadal vinegar (or a sweet chardonnay vinegar)
40ml white soy sauce
Sea salt
1 handful flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

For the Lankan black curry powder, place a wide, shallow frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the coriander, cumin, nigella and fennel seeds and toast gently, tossing regularly for even cooking. After about 2 minutes, the spices will start popping and releasing their aromas. Reduce the heat and keep toasting for another 6-7 minutes until the spices start to darken and the aroma becomes stronger and sweeter. Tip into a bowl.

Bring the pan back over medium-high heat. Add the peppercorns, mustard seeds, curry leaves and pandan leaf to the pan and toast for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat and toast for another 4-5 minutes until the pepper smell is pronounced, the mustard seeds are popping and grey in colour and the leaves are dark and dry. Add to the bowl of spices.

Next, toast the cardamom seeds, cloves and cinnamon over a medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes. Add to the bowl of spices.

Reduce the heat to low, add the chilli powder to the pan and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Toast for 4-5 minutes until the powder is dark with a strong chilli aroma. Add to the bowl of spices.

Add the chilli flakes to the pan and toast in the same way for 8-9 minutes, until they release an acrid aroma and the flakes are almost black. Add to the bowl of spices and allow to cool completely.

Grind the spices to a fine powder, then mix through the nutmeg. Store in an airtight container.

For the pasta, mix the semolina and 00 flour together in a large bowl, make a little well in the middle and slowly pour the water in, gently mixing. Once you’ve formed a rough dough, pour it out onto a clean bench surface.

Knead well for about 10 minutes, working the heels of your hands into the dough back and forth. If the dough is crumbly or shaggy, add a spritz of water. When the dough feels strong and bouncy, wrap it up and put it aside to rest for at least half an hour.

After the dough is rested, cut in half, leaving one piece wrapped. Chop the half into about 10 pieces. Take one piece and start rolling it into a long sausage shape, about 15mm thick. Chop the long dough shape into roughly 30mm lengths. Cover the dough pieces you’re not working on with a tea towel, so they don’t dry out.

Working one at a time, roll the small piece of dough with your thumb down a gnocchi board so that it curls over itself. Dust the finished shapes with a little semolina so they don’t stick together. Repeat for all 10 pieces of dough.

Once you’ve made all the pasta, cover the cavatelli with a tea towel and set aside. If you’re making the pasta ahead of time, allow it to sit for 20 minutes and then store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

For the sausage and sauce, remove the sausage casings and place the meat into a bowl. Add 80g of the Lankan black curry powder and mix well. You might want to do this by hand.

Shallow fry the curry leaves in vegetable oil over medium to high heat until crispy and fragrant, then drain them on a paper towel.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium-high heat until oil is shimmering. Drop rough little pieces of the sausage mix into the oil. You’re not aiming for perfect round meatballs, but chunks of the sausage with some texture.

Reduce the heat to medium and allow the sausage to brown and catch before tossing. Once this happens, roll the chunks around to colour all sides, roughly 5 minutes.

Reduce the heat to low and add chicken stock and the remaining 20g of Lankan black curry powder.

While that is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Once boiling, cook the cavatelli for 3 minutes. Test one piece – it should be chewy but not too starchy. Cook for another 30 seconds, if needed.

Once cooked, strain the cavatelli, reserving 250ml of the cooking water. Add the pasta and half the reserved pasta water to the sauce and toss to combine well. If it needs to be saucier, add a little more of the pasta water.

Add the butter, vinegar, white soy and a healthy pinch of sea salt and toss, allowing the butter to emulsify the sauce and coat the pasta.

Add the chopped parsley at the end, taste and season with salt or vinegar if needed. Serve and garnish with the fried curry leaves and a glass of Cat Amongst the Pigeons Fat Cat Grenache.

This article was produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Cat Amongst the Pigeons.