Recipe: Sweet Italian Sausage and Farfalle in a Creamy Fennel and Onion Sauce

On my way back from the airport on Tuesday, I stopped by Trader Joe's (a rare treat for me, as I live 45 minutes away) and enjoyed the joy that is really cheap, really good food. While browsing through the fresh produce section, a container of fresh fennel bulbs caught my eye. Both its thin, green fronds and pale, white bulb-like stem base have a soft, anise-like taste that works in both savory and sweet dishes, and I wanted to try it out for dinner tonight. While I normally wouldn't make two dishes with heavy cream back to back (last night's blue cheese sauce was so tasty though!), this fennel was just begging to be cooked down and blended into cream. Paired with tender pasta and sweet Italian sausage, which typically contains fennel seeds in it, this sauce is perfect and pulls the whole dish together. Oh, and on an unrelated note, for once in my life, I actually took a few pictures along the way, so enjoy.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: Approx. 45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Food processor or blender

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. butter
• Olive oil, enough to lightly coat the bottom of a medium pan (you'll need to do this twice)
• 2-3 sweet Italian sausage links, casings removed, pulled/crumbled into small pieces
• 1 bulb fennel, quartered, cored, and roughly chopped (remove the top but keep the green fronds for garnish)
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. dry white wine
• 1/2 pint heavy cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• A pinch of dried sage
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• Cornstarch-and-water mixture, as needed
• 8 oz. small pasta (farfalle, medium shells, rotini, etc.)

Directions

Heat 1 tbsp. butter and a splash of olive oil in a medium pan over medium high heat, then add the crumbled sausage and cook until lightly browned on the outside and cooked through (approx. 10 minutes). Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside on a paper towel-lined plate (leave the leftover oil and butter in the pan). 

Return the pan to the stove over medium high heat, add 1 tbsp. butter and a little olive oil, then add the onion, fennel, and garlic. Cook for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, tender, and fragrant, then add the white wine and let it reduce a bit. 

Fennel: The top left corner is the core, below that is a quarter of the bulb, and the right is the sliced up bulb

Onions, fennel, and garlic early in the cooking process

The onions, fennel, and garlic, now soft, golden-brown, and ready for the food processor

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and add the pasta, then cook according to package instructions (approx. 11-13 min.). While the pasta is cooking, pour the onion and fennel mixture into the "bowl" of a food processor and pulse to blend. Add heavy cream and blend until fairly smooth. Pour the mixture into a small pot and heat over medium heat. Add the listed spices and herbs and the milk. Thicken with cornstarch-and-water as needed, then reduce to medium low heat. Reheat the sausage in the microwave for 30 seconds. Drain the finished pasta and return to the pot, then add the sausage and sauce and toss to combine. Serve with a garnish of the thin fronds from the fennel bulb. 

Fennel fronds

This sauce is really something different—the fennel taste is sweet and subtle and, combined with onions, the resulting flavor is a blend of sweet and savory; there's a buttery quality to it, with a richness that creates depth. The fennel flavor in the sauce mirrors the fennel seeds that help to flavor the sausage, and pasta creates the perfect base for the two. 

Recipe: Traditional Red Pizza Sauce

As I shared in my basic pizza dough recipe post, my mom wanted me to help make homemade pizza for a Super Bowl party she's hosting, and I worked off of a recipe from Food.com to create a delicious red sauce. This sauce has a TON of ingredients, which all blend together to create a rich, flavorful sauce perfect for pizza, or even as a pasta sauce. It's easy to pull together and the flavors deepen when you allow the sauce to simmer for a while. Now, because I had to make up a big batch (enough to cover at least four pizzas), and was editing the original recipe as I went along, the amounts listed here are measured for a larger amount and I have not done the math to edit it to work for a single pizza—I trust you can figure this out. This sauce freezes well, and can be stored for a few months, so you can easily make this recipe as is and freeze the excess for future pizzas or for other uses (pasta, dipping sauce for mozzarella sticks or fried eggplant, etc.; we still had left over after making about five or six pizzas).

Yields: Approx. 3.5 quarts
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30-60 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Blender, food processor, or immersion/stick blender

Ingredients

• 6-8 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tbsp. butter
• Approx. 2 cups onions, chopped (I used 4 small-to-medium onions)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Approx. 45 oz. tomato sauce (I used a 29 oz. can, and then added a 15 oz. can when I realized I needed more)
• 1, 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2, 6 oz. cans tomato paste
• 6-8 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• 3-4 tsp. dried basil
• 3-4 tsp. dried oregano
• 3-4 tsp. dried fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
• 3 whole bay leaves (remove these from sauce before pureeing)
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• Approx. 1 tsp. black pepper
• Approx. 2 tsp. salt
• Approx. 2 tsp. sugar

Directions

In a large pot, heat the butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and slightly transparent. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste and stir to combine (the paste is thick, so be sure you stir it vigorously to break it down in the sauce). Add in the remaining ingredients (the cheese, herbs, spices, sugar, and salt) and stir to combine. Briefly bring the sauce to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to medium low, cover the pot with a lid, and let it simmer for 30-60 minutes (I cooked it for 30 minutes; the longer you cook it, the more the flavors can blend). Remove the bay leaves from the sauce. 

To blend: If using an immersion/stick blender (this is what I did, because it's the easiest and creates the least amount of dishes to wash), immerse the blender into the sauce in the pot and pulse to blend, stirring as you pulse, until the bigger chunks (onion, diced tomatoes, garlic) are broken up and blended into the sauce and the sauce is smooth. If using a blender or a food processor, pour as much as the sauce as possible (without overloading) into the holder on the unit and blend/pulse until smooth. Pour the smooth sauce into a clean bowl. Repeat this process with the remaining sauce until it's all blended and smooth. Sauce can be kept in the fridge for a few days or frozen for a few months. 

This sauce is a little sweet, a little spicy, a little tangy, and oh-so-good. Fennel and oregano are classic pizza sauce flavors, and the combination of the remaining flavorings is just right. Allowing the sauce to simmer for a while gives it a great depth of flavor, making it the perfect addition to any pizza, pasta, or other Italian-esque dish.

Recipe: Chunky Marinara Sauce

I had a few errands to run today, along with a test to study for, and some other little projects to work on, so I wanted to make something simple for dinner; preferably, something that was made entirely with ingredients already in my pantry, fridge, and freezer. A package of frozen veal and beef, leftover from my spaghetti and mozzarella-stuffed meatballs recipe, along with a bag of fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley and plenty of cans of tomatoes helped me decide to make spaghetti and meatballs with a chunky marinara sauce. Now, the meatball recipe I've already shared (though, for tonight's dinner, I chose not to stuff them with mozzarella), but the marinara was just something quick and easy that I threw together in about 20 minutes. A lot of the ingredient amounts are really just approximations—the basic ingredients you need are onion, tomato, garlic, and herbs (particularly oregano), but the herbs should be measured to taste.

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, or enough to lightly coat the bottom of a pan
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1, 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1, 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• Approx. 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Approx. 1 tsp. dried oregano
• Dried Italian seasoning and basil, to taste
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until fragrant and slightly tender, but not burnt (about 5 minutes). Add in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, dried herbs and spices, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine, and let cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Stir occasionally to keep the sauce from burning or sticking to the sides. Once cooked through and flavorful, serve. 

*If you like a smooth marinara, put the warm sauce in a food processor or use a stick/immersion blender to blend to a smooth consistency. 

The crushed red pepper flakes in this sauce kick it up a notch, and the flavors of the onion and garlic add a little tang and bite to the sauce. Despite being from a can, the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce have a fresh taste that's brought out by the addition of herbs, salt, and pepper. This sauce is great over just about any kind of pasta, but it could also be used for a meatball sub or used as a dipping sauce for fried mozzarella or fried eggplant.