Hey Guys!
For the second installation of my Sunday Dinner Series, I wanted to share this twist on an Ina Garten recipe that my mum has made some tweaks to that made it easier and more our tastes.
For those that don’t know, one of the great spices in a mild Italian sausage is ground fennel seeds- so the addition of fresh fennel is a perfect pairing. Rather than a tomato-heavy sauce, some cream binds everything together.
Fennel and Sausage Rigatoni
1 package of mild italian sausage (decased)
1 fennel bulb, diced
1 small onion
1 clove minced garlic
1.5 cups of heavy cream
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
Herbs/Spices: ground fennel seeds, red pepper flakes
Ground Parmesan for garnish
Enough rigatoni for four
Like I said, this is an adaptation of Ina Garten’s recipe that you can find here on James Beard Foundation’s website.
The main differences are how we handle the tomato paste (it gets cooked thoroughly with the vegetables), how we add more cream (heavy) to create a true saucy-ness to the dish, and that unlike the recommendation, we do not bake ours. I don’t really think pasta should be baked unless it’s truly drenched in ooey, gooey cheese. Color me crazy.
Start off with a pot or dutch oven, and add your onions, fennel and garlic to the pan and saute with olive oil. Also, get a pot of water on to boil so that you can make your pasta as per the package directions.
Then, add in your sausage and crumble it up while cooking. Once it’s fully cooked, add in your tomato paste and cook it in, coating all of the veggies and sausage. This is the point where you’d add ground fennel seed and crushed red pepper flakes as well. Once everything is cooked and delicious, deglaze your pan with the white wine (my favorite part!). It will smell amazing at this point.
Now, add your heavy cream, bring the mixture to a bubble, and then simmer for about 20 minutes (so the sauce thickens). Mix in your cooked and drained rigatoni and serve! Sprinkle as much parmesan as you like on top, which is loads if you’re me!
This is a perfect comfort food recipe to serve up with a glass of wine to a table full of friends. Let me know if you try it out!
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