Sometimes you make a pasta dish that makes you feel like you’re back in Italy and for a second you can close your eyes and take a sip of your Barolo and all is well. This dish was that for me. My local farmer’s market, which I have become completely obsessed with, had homemade Sweet Pork Sausage – so you just have to make sure that when you purchase sausage for this dish that it is able to be UN-CASED (or removed from the casing).
SHOPPING LIST: 1 lb. sweet pork sausage, 1 box Sfoglini Trumpets (or pasta of your choosing), chopped garlic, 1 lemon, white wine, butter, olive oil, fennel seeds, garlic salt, dried oregano, pepper
Like most great pasta dishes, it’s very important to par-cook your pasta and set it aside to finish cooking in your sauce. I will also say that these Sfoglini Trumpets are certainly a SPECIAL type of pasta – their density, their shape – maybe it’s psychosomatic but I feel like using this particular brand added to the specialness of this dish. Otherwise, I would probably use an orechiette or a pappardelle as a back-up. Once your pasta is par-cooked, toss it with some olive oil and set aside.
For your sugo bianco, you are going to start with with a 2 tB. of olive oil and 1 heaping tB. of butter in your sauce pan. Add 1 tB. of chopped garlic and begin to sauté over medium-high heat. When the garlic starts getting some color, add the uncased sweet pork sausage – I usually just snip off the end and remove the meat like squeezing a tube of toothpaste! Use the edge of your wooden spoon to really break up the meat. Season with 1 tsp. of dried oregano and 1 tsp. of fennel seeds (adding the herbs and seeds really UPS the flavor of the sausage). Once your sausage is getting browned, de-glaze the pan with 1/4 cup of white wine. Add the zest and juice of one lemon and continue cooking until your sausage is fully cooked through and your liquids have reduced into a thicker sauce. Season with garlic salt and pepper to taste and then add your pasta to finishing cooking in the pan with your pork sauce – about 2 minutes.
The little bit of lemon here really works to balance the richness of the butter and the pork fat. Super duper simple yet tremendously satisfying.
The Kitchen Koach 