I made a few adjustments to the amount of certain ingredients. Most notably, I doubled the amount of sausage since I wanted to stretch this into several meals. (Yes, half of this went into the
freezer!) I also upped the amount of chicken stock since I did add more sausage - I wanted to make sure there was enough sauce to go around. The result was probablly a thinner sauce than the original, so go back to the 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock if you want a thicker sauce.
Sarah suggests garlic bread to go along with this meal. I agree, and served with a green salad, you have a winter night's feast!
Rigatoni Woodsman-Style
1 pound rigatoni
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 pound sweet Italian sausages, preferably without fennel seeds
2 8-ounce packages sliced mushrooms
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup ricotta cheese (part skim or whole milk)
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and reserve.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wide, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook, stirring until translucent and beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Remove the casings from the sausage and crumble into the skillet and stir, until the sausage is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
Stir half the mushrooms into the sausage mixture. Add the remaining mushrooms as those in the pan wilt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the mushrooms are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. If the mushrooms give off liquid, allow time for the juices to boil off before the mushrooms start to brown.
Add the tomatoes and peas into the skillet and bring to a boil. Lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook a minute or two. Stir in the stock and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is lightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Pour in the cream and bring to a boil.
Spoon the ricotta into the sauce and stir gently to mix. Combine the pasta and sauce into a pot large enough to accommodate everything. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring gently to coat the pasta with sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in 1 cup grated cheese. Check the seasonings, adding salt and pepper if necessary.
A nice, hearty sauce:
Back in the fall, I had stocked up on pumpkin with big plans to bake a lot of delicious new things with it; but we all know that didn't happen. So when searching for a sweet dish for my Christmas Eve Brunch, this recipe looked yummy and practical. Plus, you can never go wrong with cream cheese icing!
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