Baked Pasta with Fennel Sausage

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil
• 1 kg Italian sausages (the fat ones with fennel, or your favourite fancy sausages)
• 2 brown onions, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp thyme leaves, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped
• 2 cups (500 ml) tomato passata
• 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) tin whole peeled Italian tomatoes (or the same amount of fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped)
• 500g orecchiette or penne pasta
• 2 cups (140 g) sourdough breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup (40 g) grated parmesan cheese
• 100 g butter
• 1/2 cup (75 g) plain (all-purpose) flour
• 5 cups (1.25 litres) full-cream milk, warmed
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup (80 g) grated parmesan cheese