Happiness is a bowl of pasta.
Top it with rich, cheesey tomato sauce spiked with homemade Sicilian sausage and you’ve got euphoria, as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve been sick for 10 days and counting and don’t have the energy to say much, other than this was really good. It’s sort of two recipes in one, the tomato sauce and the sausage: each is good in their own right, but together they just make sense.
(And no, this is not exactly a “light” recipe – but you gotta live a little, right?)
Three-Cheese Tomato and Sausage Pasta Sauce
Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Dinner with Julie, inspired by Marcella Hazan. The trick is using canned tomatoes that are packed in tomato juice or purée rather than in water. San Marzano tomatoes are good but any juice/purée packed tomatoes will work.
In a medium pot, combine:
1 28 oz can whole plum tomatoes, packed in tomato juice or purée
1 onion, peeled and cut in half
1/3 cup butter
Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 45 minutes (cover with a splatter guard to avoid a fine red mist over your whole stove). Stir occasionally, and put a lid on it if it seems like too much liquid is evaporating. After 45 minutes, fish out one onion half and purée the sauce and remaining onion half until smooth.
Feel free to stop here and serve over pasta as is, but if you want to take it over the top, add:
1 handful each finely grated parmesan, asiago, and aged cheddar
Stir until smooth, and again, feel free to stop here… Or you can add:
1 lb browned homemade Sicilian sausage (recipe follows)
Heat through, then serve over pasta with more grated cheese.
Homemade Sicilian Sausage
Via my Mum, adapted from Home Sausage Making by Charles Reavis. Sausage purists will probably tell you that this isn’t “real” sausage because it’s made with ground pork, and they’re probably right… but it’s really easy and really good, so I don’t think it matters. I fully intend on mixing up a big batch of this and portioning it out to freeze, but it’s also simple enough to put together at a moment’s notice.
In a large bowl, combine:
1 lb ground pork
1 tsp coarse salt
3.4 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1/2 – 1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp fennel seed
scant 1/4 tsp whole anise seed
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (this doesn’t seem like a lot but I find it sufficient for a nice bit of chili heat)
Mix together with your hands and use in place of Italian sausage links in any recipe (form it into patties or logs if desired). Freezes well.
To use in the recipe above, sauté it in a little olive oil over medium-high heat until browned, then add to the pureéd tomato sauce.
The source for the sausage recipe is actually Home Sausage Making by Charles Reavis, Garden Way Publishing, 1981. Lots of superb sausage recipes!
Thanks Mum!
This sounds great! Nice and meaty
Also, three cheeses is obviously better than one…
My thoughts exactly, Nick
Mmmm your pasta looks soooo good! Love the homemade Sicilian sausage! I will be making this pasta for the weekend!
I hope you like it
Homemade sausage, what a good idea! So many recipes I avoid due to the ‘sausage’ meat (which to me means scraps and gristle…) but this is brilliant!
Exactly why homemade is better
Fantastic comfort food and it sounds like you need comforting after being sick for so long! I hope you start to feel better soon, Korena! xx
Thanks Barb
Korena! This looks seriously delicious.
I have a thing for sausage in things. Sausage pizza, sausage sandwiches. Sausage pasta etc. it is a lovely comforting way of having meat.
Beautiful recipe, winter perfection!
Thanks Hamilton. I agree, so tasty!
Yes, happiness IS a bowl of pasta! With your homemade sausage – even better!
Thanks Marcellina
Yes… Happyness is a bowl of pasta! I love pasta and I can eat it every day because with a different sause it is a different dish.
Ciao.
I totally agree!
I just made this recipe Korena! Delicious. Thanks so much for the ‘sausage’ idea – I buy spicy Italian sausage all of the time at the store and never think to make it myself and this recipe makes it taste fantastic. Total win in the kitchen tonight! Cheers!
Fantastic, Sarah! Glad you liked it. That sausage recipe has been a lifesaver for me several times now when the cupboard is bare!
I made this for dinner last night and it was fab. Even my husband, who inexplicably doesn’t really like pasta, licked his bowl clean (literally!) I was particularly amazed at how a can of tomatoes, an onion and some butter can make such a great tomato sauce. Now I know, I’m sure I will use that sauce in so many things.
Isn’t it kind of unbelievable? I can’t wait to use if for other things, too. Glad you guys liked it!