sausage, onion + goat cheese {pasta}

Domenico and I are creatures of habit. We get into a routine and then happily don’t think much about the things we do, day after day, week after week. And we both love this routine,  (which is why we love each other I guess).

For instance, every Sunday, after we’ve had our morning coffee, read the paper and walked Pico, we head to the farmer’s market. Since it takes place on the weekend, this is our only chance to stock up for the week. This Sunday, as we were gathering our shopping bags and trying to remember where we had parked the car the night before, I realized that routine had completely taken control over reality.

While I love going to the market every Sunday and checking in and chatting with the vendors,  I realized that this Sunday we really didn’t need anything. I’d had a busy week, hadn’t had much time to cook, and so our fridge was still bursting not only with produce from the previous Sunday’s shopping, but also with things like pasta, cheese and sausage.

So as Domenico put away the bags and thought about going for a bike ride, I headed into the kitchen to start dealing with the backlog.

Fresh pasta from last Sunday was still fresh in its plastic container. And there was also a few sausages leftover that Domenico had brought home from contractor in Umbria whose  hobby is curing pork. I also had a massive onion from our friend Paolo’s farm as well as the last remnants of my mid week visit to the goat farm.

And so, as we always do, we had pasta for Sunday lunch. (No way was I messing with that routine. )

(Don’t worry, I also made headway though the produce too, but that’ll come up later in the week.)

(Also: don’t worry. We remembered where we parked the car)

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sausage, onion + goat cheese {pasta}

Prep 10 mins

Cook 20 mins

Total 30 mins

Author Elizabeth

Yield 4

I used sausage that is a particular Umbrian type that is halfway between fresh sausage and dried salami. You can use either in this recipe, but if you do use salami, make sure it’s as fatty as possible and not too dry and hard.

Ingredients

• 400 grams fresh pasta
• 1 large onion
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 250 grams sausage or salami
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup crumbled goat cheese

Instructions

1. Peel and cut the onion in half. Cut out the core, and slice thinly. Add to a pan large enough to hold all the pasta later, with the olive oil. Heat over medium heat, adding the salt, pepper and thyme. Cook until onion is softened, about 12 minutes.
2. Chop the sausage or salmi into small pieces. Add to the onions, with the garlic. Stir for several minutes. (you may have to cook a bit longer if using fresh sausage).
3. Add the wine and let it reduce.
4. In the meantime bring a large pot of salted water to boil, and add the pasta. If you are using fresh pasta it should only take about 5 minutes to cook. As it is cooking, use a ladle to add some of the pasta cooking water to the onions mixture, stirring to help the starchy water emulsify with the pan juices.
5. Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water.
6. Add the pasta in to the pan with the onions, stirring over medium heat while adding about half of the reserved water. Turn off heat, and add half of the goat cheese, stirring gently. Don’t over stir or it will clump up.
7. Place the pasta in serving bowls, and top with a bit of the remaining goat cheese.