Saffron's expensive by weight; but not per recipe. A teaspoon of the stuff could float away on the breeze, but few recipes call for as much as a teaspoon. A £5.00 box of saffron lasts me about 3 months, and I use the stuff weekly.
Growing up, I was taught to grind a small amount into a fine powder and mix with a bit of very hot water, which yields an incredibly potent, fragrant, and inexpensive ingredient that can flavor significant quantities of food.
Shouldn't this be a dead ringer for the stuff being fake? We don't trade with Iran.
UK imported 11 tons of saffron from Iran in 2023 - https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/GBR/yea...
2019: https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/AUS/yea...
2023: https://wits.worldbank.org/trade/comtrade/en/country/AUS/yea...
Your blinkers are showing.
The way I cook it, for two people, is to put a very small amount (I guess it's around 0.1 grams or so, not much more) in a small espresso cup with a small amount of very hot water.
The saffron quickly dissolves in it, and you can then throw the water with saffron in the pasta, add some grated cheese (generally parmigiano or grana) and the sausages pieces and it's delicious.
The saffron makes a lot of difference.