Sausage & Fennel Rigatoni

Ingredients

1 box Rigatoni

1 1/4 lbs. bulk sweet Italian pork sausage (mild or spicy)

1 large onion, sliced thin

10 cloves garlic, sliced thin

1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

1 bag baby spinach, rinsed and dried

3 cups Passata sauce

1/2 cup white wine

1 cup pasta water (reserved)

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Parmesan cheese, grated

olive oil

salt

pepper

Directions

In a pot, boil salted water and cook pasta according to directions. In a large deep pan add olive oil to coat the bottom of pan generously. Cook slice onions on medium heat until golden and then add in garlic slices and saute for a few minutes. Remove onions and garlic from pan and set aside. Add in pork sausage and fennel seeds and cook pork until brown with some crispy pork bits and cooked through, deglaze with the white wine. Return onions & garlic to the pork and add in the Passata plus an additional amount of olive oil and cook for 10 minutes to get a little reduction in the sauce. Drain pasta and add to the pork and toss, now would be the time to add the fresh baby spinach, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper to taste, toss until spinach wilts and everything is coated in the sauce. If the sauce is too thick then add in the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce. Garnish with some grated parmesan cheese.

Cooking Tools

Large pot

Large Deep Pan

Serves 4