fennel sausage pasta
Our cooking library came up short on sausage-based pasta sauces so we were forced to
fake it here. Having discovered fennel, fennel sausage was a natural choice from the
sausage types offered by our local favorite Italian food product source, Carlino's. To give the sauce a kick, a touch of
cayenne red pepper is clearly needed, which is easier to add to the fennel sausage than
adding fennel to hot sausage.
ingredients
- 1 lb rigatoni or radiatore
- 2 T olive oil
- 4 links sweet fennel sausage, casings removed, broken into small pieces
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 6 oz white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
- 1 large can Italian pelati (peeled plum tomatoes)
- fresh basil, a few T once chopped
- cayenne red pepper to taste
- allspice to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 c parmigiano plus individual serving grating
instructions
- Remove the casings from the sausage and cut into small pieces.
- Cook the sausage fragments in a large nonstick pot with the olive oil.
- When the sausage is thoroughly cooked, add the onions and cook until softened.
- Add the mushrooms and cook down a bit.
- Add the pelati and simmer 30 minutes to an hour.
- Meanwhile, when appropriate, cook the pasta al dente.
- Combine the pasta, sauce and parmigiano.
- Serve with freshly ground black pepper and parmigiano.
notes
- A famous small New York Italian restaurant suggests (a
Food
TV hint) returning the drained pasta to the pot with a little sauce and heating it
while stirring around briefly over low heat to force the two to get better acquainted.
Then mix in the rest and serve.