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ITALIAN RECIPES

Fall Pasta Recipes

Rigatoni alla Burina, with Sausages and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

14 ounces (350 g) rigatoni
6 2-inch links of fresh mild Italian sausage
12 ounces (300 g) plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped (canned will work fine)
2/3 cup cream
A pinch of dried thyme
Freshly grated cheese -- either Romano or Parmigiano as you prefer

Preparation:

Remove the casings from the sausages and crumble them into a pan with the sliced tomatoes. Cook them, covered, over the lowest possible flame for an hour.
Time the lighting of the fame under your pasta pot so the water will come to a boil when the hour's up; at this point salt the pasta water and cook the pasta, while stirring the cream into the sauce.

Continue to simmer the sauce until the pasta's done. Season the pasta with the sauce and serve it with the grated cheese, and a zesty young red wine.
Serves 4.

Vegetarian Crockpot Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, one chopped, one shredded
1 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms
1 green bell pepper, chopped
15 oz. can tomato sauce
2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
6 oz. can tomato paste
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
16 oz. box spaghetti

Preparation:

Cook onions and garlic in oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Stir and cook for 4-5 minutes until tender. Add carrots, mushrooms and bell pepper and stir.
Place vegetables into bottom of 4-5 quart crockpot and add remaining ingredients except spaghetti pasta.

Cover crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Uncover, stir thoroughly, then leave cover off crockpot and turn heat to high. Cook, uncovered, for 1 more hour to thicken sauce.
At this point the sauce can be frozen. Divide into smaller portions and cool in refrigerator. Wrap, label, and freeze the sauce up to 3 months.

To thaw and reheat, thaw sauce overnight in refrigerator. Pour into skillet and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, about 15-20 minutes or until sauce bubbles and is thoroughly heated.
You can even cook the pasta until almost tender and combine it with the cooled sauce. Freeze as directed, and thaw as directed. You may need to add 1/4-1/3 cup water when reheating if freezing the pasta in the sauce.

The pasta will be very soft using this method, like canned spaghetti.
Or you can go ahead and serve sauce with cooked spaghetti and grated Parmesan cheese. Serves 6.

Manicotti with Ricotta and Sausages Recipe

Ingredients:

2/3 pound (300 g) commercially prepared cannelloni shells
1 egg
Salt
1 1/4 pounds (500 g) fresh ricotta
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
3 mild pork sausages, about 1/2 pound (225 g)
2 tablespoons lard, butter, or prosciutto fat
1/4 of a small onion, equivalent volumes celery and carrot, and 1 tablespoon parsley, minced
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste, diluted in water
Butter

Preparation:

Put the ricotta through a strainer and into a bowl, seasoning it with a good pinch of salt, the grated Parmigiano, and a beaten egg. Mix well.
Prick the sausages well and set them to cook in water to cover; once the water has evaporated brown them in the grease that they'll have given off, then peel them, crumble them, and stir them into the ricotta mixture.

Finally, sauté the minced herbs in the lard or butter until the onion is lightly browned, stir in the tomato paste diluted in water, season the mixture lightly with salt and pepper, and simmer it for 5 minutes or so, adding a little more water if it begins to dry out.
While the sauce is simmering roll out the dough if you're starting from scratch, and cut it into 3 by 4-inch rectangles.

Once the pasta is cut cook it a few pieces at a time in abundant lightly salted water (if you're using commercially prepared shells follow the directions on the package). Remove the pasta from the water with a slotted spoon while it's still rather al dente, and lay the pieces on a damp cloth taking care lest they be touching and stick.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 250 F (170 C).
You are now ready to fill your cannelloni: lay some of the filling along the long edge of the first sheet, roll it up to make the cannelone, and place it in a well buttered, elegant baking dish.

Repeat the procedure until pasta and filling are all used up. Pour the sauce over the cannelloni, dust them with more grated Parmigiano and dot them with butter, and heat them through for about 20 minutes.
The wine? I'd go with a light zesty red, for example a Chianti d'annata or a Bardolino.
Serves 6.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Ingredients:

1 pound bucatini or thick stranded spaghetti (see note)
1/4 pound (100 g) pancetta or guanciale, diced
1 pound (400 g) ripe tomatoes (4-5 plum tomaoteos), blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped
Half an onion, minced
A hot pepper, seeded and shredded (or leave it whole if you want to remove it)
1/2 cup olive oil
An abundance (a cup) of freshly grated Pecorino Romano

Preparation:

Set the pasta water to heat, salt it when it boils, and cook the pasta. While this is happening, heat the oil in a skillet, add the diced meat, and cook until it browns, stirring the pieces about.

Remove them to a sheet of absorbent paper with a slotted spoon and keep them warm. Add the onion to the grease in the pan, together with the hot pepper, and when it begins to color add the tomato pieces, which should be well drained.

Cook, stirring, for 5-6 minutes, then return the diced pancetta to the pot and heat it through. Drain the pasta while it's still a little al dente, turn it into the skillet with the sauce, cook a minute more more, stirring the pasta to coat the strands, and serve, with grated pecorino.
Serves 4.

Buon appetito!

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