Rigatoni "Woodsman Style"

My posts are getting fewer and farther between because I am using the internet on my phone to type them up and it is a wee bit more difficult to do it this way. Anywho, here is a recipe from a recipe from one of Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's cookbooks, Lidia's Italy in America. Sometimes I use a jar of spaghetti sauce for convenience, but it really is not too difficult to make your own sauce. This recipe should serve about 6.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta pot

1 pound rigatoni

3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 pound sausage

Mixed mushrooms, thickly sliced (I couldnt find these in the produce section, so I had to omit. Good varieties would be cremini, button, and shiitake) use hoewever many suites your taste.

5-6 fresh sage leaves

28-ounce can crushed Italian plum tomatoes

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

**You can alter the amounts of peas, sage, mushrooms to better fit your taste preference.


1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add sausage and cook, crumbling with a wooden
spoon, until sausage is no longer pink, about 4 minutes.

2.Bring a large pot of salted water to a full boil for pasta. Add rigatoni to water and cook until al dente (the package should guide you on that)

3. Whike the pasta is cooking, add mushrooms to sausage mix and cover and cook until they release juices, about 2 minutes. Uncover, add the sage and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, slosh out the tomato can with one cup pasta cooking water, and add it to the sauce. Add salt. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until thickened, about ten minutes.

4. Once sauce is thicker, toss in peas. Cook about two minutes. Pour in another cup of pasta water and the heavy cream into the sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened, about two minutes more.

5. If pasta is done, drain pasta and add directly to the pan of sauce, tossing to coat well. Remove from heat and sprinkle with the grated cheese. Toss and mix again and serve immediately.