Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes From the New York Times - Mark Bittman [114]
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put the butter in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. As it melts, crumble the sausage meat into it, making the bits quite small, ½ inch or less in size. Add ½ cup of water and adjust the heat so that the mixture simmers gently.
2. Cook the pasta until it is tender but not at all mushy. Reserve about ½ cup of the pasta-cooking water.
3. Drain the pasta and dress with the sauce, adding some of the reserved cooking liquid if necessary. Taste and add salt and pepper as necessary. Toss with the Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve.
VARIATIONS
White Pasta with Sausage and Onions
Before adding the sausage, gently cook about 1 cup minced onion in the butter until it is translucent. Proceed as directed.
Red Pasta with Sausage
Still far lighter than the pasta with sausage you’re expecting. Core, cut up, seed, and drain 5 to 6 plum tomatoes; they may be fresh or canned. Add them to the sauce along with the sausage.
• Add about 1 teaspoon minced garlic or a couple of tablespoons minced shallot to the butter as it melts.
• Toss in a handful of chopped fresh parsley or basil at the last moment or add about 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or minced fresh sage along with the sausage.
• Use red wine as the cooking liquid; its astringency offsets the sweet richness of butter and meat beautifully.
PASTA WITH FAST SAUSAGE RAGU
MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS
TIME: 30 MINUTES
TRUE RAGU IS a magnificent pasta sauce, a slow-simmered blend of meat, tomatoes, and milk. The real thing takes hours, for the meat must become tender and contribute its silkiness to the sauce, the tomatoes must dissolve, and the milk must pull the whole thing together. But a reasonable approximation of ragu can be produced using ground beef or pork or, even better, prepared Italian sausage.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ large or 1 medium onion, chopped
½ pound Italian sausage, removed from the casing
1 cup milk
¼ cup tomato paste
1 pound long pasta
About 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Put the oil in a 10-inch skillet and turn the heat to medium; a minute later, add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage in bits and turn the heat to medium-high; cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is nicely browned, 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Add the milk and tomato paste, along with some salt and pepper; stir to blend and simmer for about 5 minutes, or until thick but not dry. Keep it warm if necessary and, if it becomes too thick, add a little more milk, water, or chicken stock.
3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until tender but not mushy. Drain it and toss with the sauce and about half the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Taste and adjust the seasoning, and serve, passing the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano
ZITI WITH CHESTNUTS AND MUSHROOMS
MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS
TIME: 30 MINUTES
CHESTNUTS AND DRIED MUSHROOMS have a wonderful affinity for each other. Their unusual flavors and textures seem distantly related; they are both meaty and complex, chewy but neither tough nor crunchy. With shallots and plenty of black pepper for bite, the combination makes a great pasta sauce.
And though chestnuts are a pain in the neck (the fingers, actually) to peel, the good news is that their complex, fragrant flavor is so powerfully distinctive that just a few can have an enormous impact on a dish. So although it may take thirty seconds to a minute to process a single chestnut, if you need only a dozen or so for a dish, the work amounts to about ten minutes. And in a creation like this one, the time is well worth the effort.
15 chestnuts
1 ounce dried mushrooms-porcini, shiitake, black trumpets, morels, or an assortment
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
½ cup sliced shallot
1 pound ziti or other cut pasta
1. Cut a ring around each chestnut, then put them in boiling water to cover and cook for