Ingredients
- 1 Lb Rigatoni
- 1 6oz package of Spinach
- 1 Lb Sweet Italian Sausage
- 1 Yellow Onion, diced
- 3 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
- 1/4 Cup White Wine
- 1 45oz container DelGrosso Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce
- 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
- 2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 Wedge Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated.
- Olive Oil, for cooking
- Kosher Salt
- Ground Black Pepper
- Red Pepper Flakes
Instructions
- In a pan over medium high heat add some oil then the spinach, keep moving it around till it sweats down. Remove from the pan and place on a dish.
- Bring a bot of salted water to a boil, salty like the sea, to a boil. Add pasta and cook al dente, or almost done. Drain into a colander.
- While the pasta cooks: In a pan, over medium heat, brown the sausage in a little oil. Transfer the sausage to a colander and let it drain. Getting good brown color on the sausage here will add a lot of flavor later. Squish the sausage so it takes up as much of the pan as possible, let it sit for a little so it browns, then flip and break apart.
- You should still have some fat in the pan, add the butter to this. Add the onion and cook till softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and a good sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Cook till the garlic doesn’t smell raw.
- Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Reduce until the liquid is thick/almost gone. Au Sec.
- Add most of the pasta sauce. Let everything come to a simmer.
- Add the sausage back in and add the heavy cream. The pasta sauce should be about this color, but it does not need to be exact:
- Taste the sauce, you will need to add salt. If it is too spicy for you, add some more cream. If theres no spice, add some more pepper flakes.
- When the pasta is cooked and you get this far with the sauce it is time to combine them. Add the pasta to the pot you cooked it in and then pour in the sauce.
- The spinach should be cool, press the liquid out of it. Then chop it and add it to the pot with the pasta and sauce. Add in some cheese and mix to combine. You will know you have enough cheese when you see strands of the cheese as you mix the pasta and the sauce is thickened.
Notes
- The pasta sauce is very regional, substitute with your favorite if you can’t get the one listed.
- If you want the sauce smoother, you can use an immersion blender or food processor after you add the tomato sauce, Do it between steps 6 and 7.
- The cheese needs to be freshly grated so it completely melts into the sauce.
- The cream will counteract the heat from a lot of the pepper so you should add a little more than you think you need.
