For years, I hated Italian food – especially pasta. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized the reason that I didn’t like pasta was because I’d only had crappy pasta. Now I’m so into Italian food that I’ll gladly spend half a day making something as authentic as possible. That being said, striking a line between something truly rustic Italian and something you have the time to make on a weeknight can be a challenge. I think this one straddles the line nicely, even if you do take my recommendation to make your own sauce.
The Setup
1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
1 bulb fennel, chopped
1 Spanish onion, chopped
1/2 c white wine
2 c basic tomato sauce (recipe below – or just use the jarred marinara)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
- Hopefully, you got the whole fennel bulb, with the stems and the leaves and everything. Before you chop it up, you’re going to want to take off the leaves and chop them up fine to use as the garnish. It smells great, and makes you look as if you expended more effort than you did.
- So if you want to make your own tomato sauce like some fancy-pants Italian grandmother, take 1/4 c of extra-virgin olive oil (abbreviate it EVOO and I’ll punch your neck), one small yellow onion chopped fine, 5 minced cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of dried thyme, half a grated carrot, and a couple of big cans of San Marzano tomatoes. Crush the tomatoes with your hand in a big bowl, keeping the juice. Cook off the onion, garlic, and carrot, the add the tomatoes and juice (hope your hands were clean), bring it to a boil, and let it simmer for a good while. This makes a lot more than the 2 cups you’ll need. Portion it out in ziploc bags and freeze the rest. Homemade pasta sauce without any new effort. Hell yes.
- Don’t forget the pasta to serve it with. I didn’t list it because you can use whatever you want, and that’s going to affect the cooking time. I used mostaccoli, but the spiral pasta is probably the best match for the ragu’s thick texture.
Cooking
1. Heat a skillet and the oil over medium-high and saute the chopped fennel until it’s soft and beings to brown slightly.
2. Add the sausage and break it up while it cooks. Big chunks of sausage – for once – are not your friend.
3. When there’s no pink left in the sausage, pour in the wine (something dry, preferably, but whatever you’ve got in the house is probably fine) and let it reduce by about half.
4. Add the two cups of your excellent homemade sauce (or the assembly line’s perfectly servicable version), mix it in well, and bring it up to a boil. Reduce the heat again and simmer for 15 minutes. Make sure the vegetables are tender.
5. Cook your pasta while the sauce is simmering, then either finish it in the sauce pan with some of the cooking water or just throw it down on a plate and serve the sauce over it. We’re not picky here. Err on the side of al dente, or you may as well be eating sausage stew with limp pasta.
6. Garnish with those chopped fennel leaves and you’re ready to eat until sweat pants seem like a good idea.