"We're Gettin' Sauced" Noodles

Trying new things is always hard for me, especially when it comes to food dishes.  Thoughts run around in my head the whole time I am putting new ones together, will the hubby like it, was it a waste of time, a waste of money for the ingredients, can I make it vegan if my vegan son is eating, and last, will I like it after putting so much time and effort standing in front of a hot stove cooking it.  Well, I can honestly say with this dish I had no fears.  It was awesome and can't wait to eat the little bit of leftovers, unless someone else gets to them before me!  Maybe I should hide them in the drawer in the fridge, no one ever looks in there. Hmmm...

Recipe below.

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I started with Italian sausage, and removed the casings.  Break it up in a frying pan in smaller chunky pieces.

 In another larger pan,  some olive oil, garlic, onion and seasonings.  Caramelizing the onions, gives great flavor.

 Next up , colorful peppers!

 Add 1 can of crushed tomatoes and a can of diced, and don't forget to add some of the good stuff, white wine!  Add the sausage and some of drippings from the pan.  Stir it up and let it go! 

These are my favorite Pappardelle from Trader Joe's.  They are perfect for this dish, catches all the sauce, but you can use any brand you like.

 
Cook them up to your likeness and drain. To me, fully cooked is best, not al dente.

Slowly add them into the sauce a little at a time, mix them in good. And here it is, look how luscious this looks!

These are not dripping with sauce noodles, there is a lot of sauce, but covering the wide noodles

 uses a lot of it. But no worries, they're not dry, just very tasty. 

As always, don't forget the grated cheese! Oh, and the bread too.

"We're Gettin' Sauced" Noodles

Ingredients

Olive oil

6 4-5" Italian sausage links, remove the casings, can also use a mix of hot and sweet 

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 large sweet onion, cut in half then sliced thick

1 red bell pepper, cut in 1" chunks

1 orange bell pepper, cut in 1" chunks

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, more if you like heat

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

3/4 cup of white wine

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 15 1/2 oz can of diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons sugar

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

8-10 leaves fresh basil, rolled up and sliced

2 8 oz packages Pappardelle noodles

Directions

In a heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium - high heat.  When oil is hot, add the sausage and break it up into smaller chunks, but not like ground beef.  Cook until no longer pink. Set aside.

In another larger pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium - high heat.  Add the garlic, onion, bell peppers, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning.  Cook and stir until onions and peppers are caramelized. Turn the heat off, and add the wine. Stir in wine, turn the heat back on.  Cook for 2-3 minutes.  Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes and sugar; add the sausage and a little bit of the drippings from the pan, parsley and basil, then stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, let the sauce simmer for 11/2 hours.

When ready to cook noodles, fill a large pot 3/4 of the way full with salted water.  Bring to a boil, add the noodles and cook to your liking. I think fully cooked noodles are better with this dish, instead of al dente. When noodles are done, drain them, add to the sauce slowly, tossing them in after each addition.  Serve immediately. Garnish with grated cheese or grated cheese shavings.  Makes 8 servings.

Eileen's Pappardelle Alla Bolognese

Because I'm Italian I love all things Italian, except for calamari, that I can not eat.  All I can think of when I hear that word, is a squid slapping me with it's tentacles or trying to eat me.  I know, THAT sounds crazy!  I just can't do it.  But anyway, Italian food is always on my list of what I can make for dinner.  It's a simple food to make, rustic, tasty and fills you up.  Add a bottle of wine and you have an elegant meal, no matter what is on the plate.

I bought a couple of packages of pappardelle at Trader Joe's the last time I was there, and stored them in the pantry.  Pappardelle is a wide flat noodle, sometimes made with eggs, sometimes not.  I have been toying with the idea of a beef bolognese sauce for them, I don't usually have a bolognese sauce with my pasta, have some picky eaters in the house.  But, I decided to give it a try, pulled some things together and made this bolognese recipe my own.  It was so darn good!  The beef, the wine, cheese, veggies and sauce, all cooking together made the house smell so fantastic, I couldn't wait to eat that night.  What is it with Italian flavors that does that, it's just good food no doubt about. So here is my take on Pappardelle With Bolognese Sauce.

Recipe below.

To print recipe, click, highlight and print.

To view photos in a larger format, click on them.

These are the ingredients I started with.  I chopped my onion, celery and carrots to get them ready.

    

 I didn't have pancetta on hand, But I always have a container of bacon fat stored in the freezer.  I always save it after cooking bacon.  I melted some of it with olive oil, for added flavor while cooking the beef.

    

I pan seared the beef on all sides..... 

    

then covered it with a lid for the remainder of cooking time.

    

Take them out of the pan and let them rest on a plate.  Lookin' good!

 I used diced tomatoes and pureed them in a small food processor.

 In the same pan with the meat juices, cook the onion, celery and carrots, then add garlic paste, more on that later.

 Add the tomato paste and stir it in.

 Ahhh, then the wine!  This gives so much flavor to the rest of the ingredients.

 Toss in those tomatoes, a little milk for creaminess, a cheese rind, bay leaves and return meat to the pan....

 .....stir the sauce so everything combines, cover and cook stirring occasionally.

 OMG! That meat, it's so tender and juicy.  Shred it with a fork, trim any fat off of it, and return it to the pan so it can absorb some of the sauce.

 Looks amazing!  Start a pot of water, bring to a boil and toss in the pappardelle to cook.

 Scoop out most of the meat from the sauce pan and put it into a bowl.  When the pappardelle was done cooking, I put it into the pan with the sauce.....

 .....gave it a roll in the sauce and WOW, that looks so good!

 When I plated the pappardelle, I topped it with the beef mixture, shaved Romano- Pecorino cheese, fresh basil, and dinner was served.  It was so good I didn't want to talk while eating, I wanted to savor every bite.

Eileen's Pappardelle Alla Bolognese

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive

1 tablespoon bacon fat, or 2 tablespoons pancetta (see note), or use butter

2 boneless beef short ribs

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 sweet onion, finely diced

1 rib celery, finely diced

1 carrot, finely diced

2 tablespoons garlic paste (see note)

3 tablespoons tomato paste (see note)

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup dry red wine

1/4 cup milk

2 bay leaves

small Italian cheese rind, optional

1 package Pappardelle noodles

Grated cheese

Directions

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil and the bacon fat.  Add the short ribs and sear them on all sides.  Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Remove from pan onto a plate.

Add the onion, celery and carrot to the same pan, and cook for about 6 minutes.  Add the garlic paste and stir it in, cook for 1 minute.  Add the tomato paste, stir it in, cook for 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, wine, milk, bay leaves and cheese rind to the pan.  Stir until all is combined, then add the meat back into the pan and season with a little more salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover the pan partially with the lid so the moisture escapes, and let cook for 2 hours stirring occasionally.  The sauce will thicken during cooking time.

About 20 minutes before serving, start a pot of salted water for the pasta.

Remove the cheese rind and the bay leaves from the sauce.  Take the meat out and using two forks shred the meat and return to the sauce. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and let the meat absorb some of the sauce while the pasta is cooking.

Scoop most of the meat out of the pan and into a bowl.  When pasta is done cooking, drain completely, then toss the pasta with the sauce that is left in the pan.  To serve the pasta, top with the meat mixture and shaved cheese. Makes 4 servings.

NOTE:
1.  If using pancetta instead of bacon fat, after browning the meat, cook pancetta in the olive oil  until brown and crispy, drain on a paper towel.  Add it to the sauce when you add the meat back in.  

2.  AMORE makes garlic paste and tomato paste in a tube, as well as many other good ingredients that you may only need a little of.  It's found on the shelves where jarred pasta sauces and canned tomatoes are sold. The garlic paste is so much easier to use, than chopping garlic cloves, and the tomato paste is less wasteful than opening a whole can of paste when you only need a few tablespoons.  If you are vegetarian or vegan, this dish is easy to switch out ingredients and still have a great, tasty dish.

Pappardelle With Meat Sauce

We love all kinds of pasta in my house.  It doesn't matter what kind of sauce is on it, pasta is always a hit.  I could eat pasta everyday and never get tired of it.  It is one of those foods you can make a lot of different ways, and comes in many shapes and sizes.  One of those shapes is pappardelle.  If you don't know what pappardelle is, it's a very wide flat pasta noodle.  I bought my pappardelle at Trader Joe's and came up with this very tasty dish with meat sauce.  Enjoy!

 A few ingredients, I used beef cubes for stew, but any beef tips will do.  All the meat gets really tender in the sauce.  Chop and saute garlic and onion, in olive oil of course.

 Fry up your tomato paste to get that raw taste out of it.  Add the crushed tomatoes.

 Here come the seasonings! And then add the meat, yes I know its raw, trust me it's ok!

 Sauce and meat all cooked up, and now time to cook the pasta.  Never mind those brownies in the back there, I know you're all looking at them!  Keep your eyes on the pasta.

 Shred the beef, top the pasta with the sauce, add some shaved Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese, cracked black pepper and Pasta Meravigliosa!  Wonderful Pasta! 

 A simple salad with this dressing from Wegman's doesn't hurt either.  This dressing is sooooo good!  Oh, and a loaf of warm Italian bread with butter, don't forget that to sop up all the sauce.

Papperdelle With Meat Sauce

Ingredients

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 - 6 oz can tomato paste

1 - 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp crushed red pepper, more if you like heat

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp parsley, dried or fresh is fine

2 bay leaves

2 tsp sugar

1/4 cup grated Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese

1 cup of water

1 - 1 lb. package of beef cubes or sirloin tips

1 - 8 oz package of pappardelle pasta (this package made 2 servings)

Shaved Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese

Fresh cracked black pepper

Directions

In a heavy saucepan, on medium - high heat, add the olive oil and saute garlic and onion just until tender. Add in the paste, stirring into the garlic and onion, and fry for 2 minutes.  Add the crushed tomatoes and stir in.  Add the next 12 ingredients, stirring after each addition to the saucepan, ending with the beef.  Reduce heat to medium or medium low, put a lid on the pan and cook for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally so the sauce does not stick to the pan.  One half hour before serving:  1. Bring a large pot of water with 1 tsp of salt, to a boil and add the pappardelle, stir to separate.  Cook to your liking, we like ours al dente (to the tooth). 2. While the water is coming to a boil, remove the meat from the sauce and shred, then return to the saucepan and heat through.

Drain the pasta, pour into a serving bowl, top with the meat sauce, shaved Parmigiano - Reggiano cheese and cracked black pepper.