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First-Night Pasta

Source of Recipe

From "See You On Sunday" by Sam Sifton


Recipe Introduction

"This is the meal my crowd eats on our first night of arrival in a new place with old friends, extended family, anywhere a lot of people have gathered to be together for holidays, graduations, weddings, adventure trips, weekend getaways, and funerals alike. As you'll see from the instruction below, it's not so much a recipe as an idea: browned Italian sausage and beef in a deep-red tomato sauce that you can make fiery with red pepper flakes or scent with cinnamon or both. Sometimes I make it with sausage alone. Sometimes I add wine, if there's wine around. You can really do to it whatever you like. It's a welcoming dish. Serve mixed into pasta in a big, warm bowl, with garlic bread."

List of Ingredients

◦ 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
◦ 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
◦ 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
◦ 1 pound Italian sausage, hot or mild or a mixture, cut into coins or crumbled
◦ 1 pound ground beef
◦ One 6-ounce can tomato paste
◦ 1 stick cinnamon, if you have one
◦ 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (optional)
◦ 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, if you have them
◦ 2 teaspoons dried basil, if you have them
◦ One 28-ounce can peeled whole or crushed tomatoes
◦ A big glug of red wine, if there is some to hand
◦ Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
◦ 1 pound dried pasta of your choice
◦ 1 handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly torn, if you have them
◦ 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese


Recipe

Set a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat and swirl into it the oil. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to turn translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until it becomes fragrant, 30 seconds or so, then add the sausage and beef. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat has browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain off excess fat if you like, but I really never do.

Use a spoon to clear a space in the center of the pan and add the tomato paste, stirring to break it up. Then add the cinnamon, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, and dried basil, if you're using any of those. Stir to combine, then add the tomatoes, along with the wine. Add a spray of salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

Lower the heat under the pan and allow the mixture to simmer quietly for 30 minutes or more, then cook the pasta and toss it with the sauce. Garnish with the fresh basil and serve alongside the Parmesan. We made it.

Serves 6






❧ On the Importance of Garlic Bread:

There is no better accompaniment to a dinner of pasta with red sauce than a large lacquered loaf of hot bread sliced almost but not entirely through, redolent of bruised garlic and sweet butter. Save, perhaps, two or more loaves. Children thrill to garlic bread in particular, and few adults can avoid its charms. You'll need only Italian bread or a country loaf, butter, garlic, and, if you like, a lot of mixed herbs.

For a traditional loaf, simply take a stick of unsalted butter and place it on your cutting board to soften. Then peel and mince garlic, as many cloves as you deem necessary, up to a full head. When the butter has softened, use a fork to mash the garlic into it, creating a paste that may appear to be equal parts garlic and butter. Add a little coarse kosher salt and mix again. Then use a bread knife to score the bread deeply, thick slices that end right before the bottom crust of the loaf. Spread the garlic butter on each side of each slice, making sure to get it down deep toward the bottom crust. Use the remaining garlic butter to anoint the exterior of the loaf, then wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil. Bake it in a 350� F oven for around 20 minutes, a little more if your oven temperature is lower, then serve.

Or if you'd like a more luxe and fragrant version? Follow the teachings of my colleague Samin Nosrat, who cuts a wide variety of herbs�parsley, thyme, and chives, say�into the butter she uses on the bread, then stuffs yet more fresh herbs of the same variety into the finished bread before she serves it. It's like a salad, then. And ridiculously delicious.