Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Pasta on the table and a bun in the oven
--Rigatoni Con Salsiccia (Rigatoni with Sausage)



Rigatoni Con Salsiccia (Rigatoni with Sausage)
The Art of Italian Cooking Copyright 1948

1 lb rigatoni I used penne because I wanted to use Dreamfield pasta
1 lb Italian pork sausage
3 tbs olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 lb fresh mushrooms
1 bay leaf
1 large can tomato puree
½ cup grated Pecorino cheese
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut sausage in 1-inch pieces; place in hot skillet with olive oil; brown slightly for about 10 minutes. Add onion, mushrooms (well cleaned and sliced), garlic, salt and pepper; simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomato puree and bay leaf. Cover pan; cook slowly for 1 hour. Remove bay leaf.

Cook rigatoni about 20 minutes in 5 quarts of rapidly boiling salted water. When tender, drain and place in baking dish. Add sausage and sauce. Mix. Sprinkle with grated Pecorino cheese. Bake in moderate oven about 10 minutes.

Serve very hot. Serves 6.
________________________

This little cookbook is a gem. It's a little Bantam paperback that I think will be one of my favorite Italian cookbooks and I have several Italian cookbooks. It had 40 printings by the 70s but it may be out of print now. There may be more than one book with this title. The author of this one is Maria Lo Pinto.

I almost thought this recipe would be too simple but the sausage provides more than enough flavor. I made the sauce two days ahead of time, then I just heated it up when I cooked the pasta and threw it all together on the night we ate it. It wasn't complicated but it was very good.

Well I can tell you now that the real reason I've been slacking off around here isn't the holidays but instead sheer exhaustion from making a baby. By July 4th, there will be another mouth to feed around here! I'm trying to keep up as best I can but I can tell you there has been at least one Stouffer's family entree on the table recently.

Posting will be sparse since I'm making mostly repeat Christmas cookie recipes this year, if I can even scrounge up the energy to do that.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Oooo! Congratulations!!!! So excited for you. You are due the day after my best friend in medical school. She's due July 3rd! I'm impressed that you've been cooking as much as you have.

ThursdayNext said...

PAULA! A BABY! Oh I am soooo thrilled for you! The moment I saw that title I yelped...congratulations! This baby is going to have a great mom...and a great mom who cooks so well to boot! :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! When I saw your title, I first assumed you had baked some good bread to go with your dinner. But this is the real thing. That's wonderful.

Jan

Karen said...

OMG....congrats!!

Anonymous said...

oh, a big congratulations for you. and dh also i suppose. take care and have a wonderful holiday season.

anette

sugar__mama said...

big congrats! what a great christmas present to get such wonderful news.

Anonymous said...

Happy dancing for you, Paula. A baby, she's gonna have a baby.
Nick's gonna be a big brother. :))
Best wishes and congratulations. ~mjny

Anonymous said...

Congrats!! I read all the time!

Wanda said...

How wonderful! Congratulations! :)
And the rigatoni looks yummy.

Rebel In Ontario said...

I think I already told you congrats in another spot but you never can hear it too often...CONGRATS!

DancesInGarden said...

Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Paula!!!!
I thought you were trying to trick us with the name of the recipe!
I'm excited for you! Does Nick know yet?
Hugs!
Tammy/Mickey15

Jennifer said...

Congratulations! :)

Randi said...

omg, congrats!!! How exciting!!!

MommyProf said...

Yea! Kids are such a blessing!

meddlingkidd said...

Ohhh! Congratulations!! I'm so happy for you!

Hilary said...

Congratulations!!

Arties32 said...

..and CONGRATS again!! That's very happy news to hear at such a nice time of year. VERY happy for you!!!!

Lunch Buckets said...

Congratulations on your bun :)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Paula!!

Carla said...

Congrats on the baby!! And the perfect blog title too ;)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations. I too, wondered if your title was cooking related or you really were pregnant. Congrats again.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!! How very exciting!

Cyndi said...

Congrats, Paula! I look forward to reading about the next few months. I saw on your post that you used penne because you wanted to use Dreamfields - I found a source for Dreamfields in all different shapes (elbows, lasagna, linguine, penne, rotini, and spaghetti) : http://www17.netrition.com/cgi/prices.cgi?manu_id=212

I like the prices, too.