Italian Sausage and Rosemary Pasta Sauce

This easy pasta sauce will definitely impress at the dinner table. Depending on serving sizes, it can feed between 4 and 6 people.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Rosemary infused olive oil

• 1 lb ground Italian sausage (14-16 oz will work)

• 1 finely chopped Vidalia sweet onion - medium white onion 

• 4 cloves smashed roasted garlic (regular garlic will work as well)

• 1/2 cup red wine

• 29 oz tomato sauce

• 1 tbsp rosemary

• *Large Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

• 1 cup pasta water

• Vegetable stock as needed

• 3/4 cup half and half

• Just over a 1 lb. handmade pasta (strozzapreti pasta)

• Freshly Grated parmesan

Prep

1. Add 1 tbsp Rosemary infused olive oil to the bottom of a large cast iron dutch over medium heat. 

2. Once the olive oil begins to shimmer, sauté the finely chopped Vidalia sweet onion until lightly browned. 

3. Cook 1 lb ground Italian sausage until almost entirely cooked. Break the sausage up into small pieces with a wooden spoon.

4. Add 1/2 cup red wine to deglaze the bottom of the dutch oven and let simmer for several minutes until it has reduced and the alcohol has been cooked off. 

5. Add 4 cloves of smashed roasted garlic, 1 tbsp rosemary, a large pinch of crushed red pepper, and 29 oz or one large can of tomato sauce into the dutch oven, stir and then cover. Let simmer for approximately 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Check on the sauce often and if it has reduced too much, add an appropriate amount of vegetable stock.

6. Season to taste with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Making sure not to over salt (the pasta water will add salt to the sauce). 

7. Boil salted water and cook approximately 1 lb. handmade pasta. A really great pasta for this sauce is the needskneaded.com handmade strozzapreti. 

8. Once the pasta is cooked, strain it, reserving at least 1 cup of the pasta water (though you may not use this much).

9. Stir 3/4 cup half and half into the sauce and then add a portion of the pasta water a splash at a time until the sauce has reached the desired consistency. The sauce should be thin enough to easily coat pasta.

10. Add pasta directly into the sauce, and plate with freshly grated parmesan.

11. Enjoy this dish, it’s definitely food you knead in your life.

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Tips

• Making the pasta a day or two ahead can really help reduce the stress of putting a completely homemade meal together.

• Cooking in an enamel cast iron dutch oven is perfect for this sauce. Don’t have one? Check out the Lodge 6-Quart.

• Elevate this dish by topping it with freshly grated Parmesan, red pepper flakes, and a fresh rosemary.