A quick sauce that tastes like Tuscany
Rainy day food. Any day food. Pasta with a meaty sauce makes me feel good. This number takes 35-40 minutes. Take down this number.
This recipe is a variation on a sauce I first enjoyed in Montepulciano, the one is Tuscany. That sauce had no tomato. This one does.
First this message. There is Italian sausage, and then there is Italian sausage. My pref is plain sausage, salt and pepper and maybe a little garlic. (What I’m not saying, or what I AM now saying parenthetically is: No fennel. This is a regional thing. My orientation is Emilia-Romagna. Fennel is not on their radar screen or in their sausage. And most ER’s I know are passionate about this matter.)
I thin-slice a couple leeks up to the greening of the stalk and saute in olive oil. Then squeeze the sausage out of the casing and roll it in chunks into the cooking leeks, which are by now getting a little transparent.
This is one Italian sausage link, a sizable one. Raise the heat and roll the leeks and sausage. I poke the sausage to break it up some. Add red pepper flakes. You’ll know how much and adjust the amount of pepper for your flame quotient. We’re heading toward tomato puree, 3/4 cup or a cup. Add the tom. and cook on low heat. Hmm, I’ll add a little more oil too. Salt, yes. Black pepper would be redundant.
I like this sauce with garganelli or wheels. It’s a sauce so good, I’m sure I would like on cereal or popcorn
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