This cheesy and creamy rigatoni and sausage is studded with fresh Italian basil and spiked with fennel seeds. It’s a flexible, everyday-cooking recipe that forces you to open a bottle of white wine that you might as well serve with the meal.
Rigatoni alla toto
4
generously10
minutes50
minutes1
hourIngredients
Basil leaves picked from a ¾-oz. package
3 Tbs olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage (bulk)
1 cup dry white wine
½ tsp fennel seeds, finely chopped
1½ cups heavy cream
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
1 lb. rigatoni
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
Directions
- Gather up the smallest of the basil leaves and set them aside to be used for garnish.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat (setting 4). Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 3 minutes. Push the onion to the circumference of the pan in order to make room for the sausage. Lay the sausage into the pan and leave undisturbed until browned, 4 minutes. Now and then, stir the onions around the circumference of the pan, so that they do not brown too deeply. Flip the sausage, and brown for 4 more minutes. During this time, if the onions start to turn too dark, pile them atop the sausage. Add the wine and cook for 1 minute, as you break the sausage up into bite-sized chunks. Add the basil, fennel, and cream. Raise the heat to med-high (setting 6) and bring to a lively simmer. Reduce heat to med-low (setting 3) and simmer until the sausage is cooked through and the sauce has thickened just shy of your liking, 20 minutes. Salt to taste, if necessary. Add pepper, to taste.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the rigatoni in the boiling water 1-2 minute less than package directions. Drain well and return to the empty pot. Add the sauce, and toss. (If the rigatoni is done before the sauce, ladel in 1/2 cup of the unfinished sauce and stir it around, to prevent the rigatoni from sticking together.) Either serve immediately with the Parmesan, or toss with the Parmesan. Garnished with reserved basil leaves.
Notes
- Substitutions: sausage in casings instead of in bulk – in that case, remove and discard casings. Grated Parmesan for the shredded.
Social Learning
If the sausage cooks before the sauce it thickened, remove it with a slotted spoon and raise the temperature under the sauce to medium until it is thick. Note that the rigatoni will soak up liquid, so get the sauce to the perfect texture and then serve immediately. Get the sauce just shy of perfect otherwise.
Want to be creative? This pasta is a vehicle you could drive in so many directions: add mushrooms, add garlic – maybe roasted garlic. I think sundried tomatoes, especially if they were dry (not packed in oil), cut into small pieces, would be a nice addition. Italian herbs in addition to the basil.
Good microwaved later, but best fresh.
My preference is to toss the Parm into the sauce, but it’s good both ways.
Creamy Rigatoni and Sausage
Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! unless otherwise credited. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. Thank you, ⌘+C. References: Dunaway, Suzanne. “Rigatoni alla toto.” The Best American Recipes, 2005-2006, ed. by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens. Houghton Mifflin (Boston) 2005, pp. 109. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #13 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs.
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