A Good Recipe is Never Forgotten

While digging for a dinner idea in our messy (yet organized!) pile of quickly jotted down recipes in the front of our cookbook, we realized about a year later that we still had this particular one, and couldn't help but think about the failed relationship in a slightly better light. Sometimes it's the small things, but having that piece of paper was way more important to us than any relationship keepsake.

This was in 2006, and up until two days ago we still had that precious recipe tucked away. Over the years, it certainly hadn't aged with beauty--it had wine and coffee splatters throughout; tears that resembled someone stabbing it with a pencil; and creases that proved it had been folded and refolded into our book over hundreds of times. "It gives it character!" We'd exclaim, when friends commented on its dingy appearance. And of course, they were right; it would have been easy to type up again all nice and neat, but we appreciated its faults--such as his mother's calling for "chee" and "tomtoes," which always made it fun while giving out the recipe over the phone word-for-word to friends.

Since the recipe has always been a crowd pleaser, we thought it'd be perfect to share with you. Two days ago we set out to Whole Foods to gather the ingredients, and when we returned home with everything we needed, we realized that we'd left this little gem that we'd had for so long now, sitting in the produce section on top of a box of tomatoes, or "tomtoes" as his mother might have put it. We couldn't help but see the irony of the situation; this poor, tired piece of paper that we had treasured for so many years, now to either be thrown away by an employee as garbage, or picked up by a nosy soccer mom, who probably used their hand sanitizer shortly after. We truly hope that neither of those things happened and that someone might have taken it home to bring back to life and appreciate like we had, but that just might be a good dose of wishful thinking.

However, after we froze for a second in the kitchen with our full sack of groceries and realized the terrible mistake we'd just made, we gave ourselves a pep talk and got to work. And with no recipe in sight, we succeeded in making it perfectly, just as his mother would have wanted it. So now, we can honestly say that this is our version of the penne with sausage and cream sauce, and we hope that in turn you will enjoy it with your loved ones just as much as we have.

Penne with Sausage and Cream Sauce
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• Olive oil


• 1 medium red onion, chopped


• 1 pound of penne pasta cooked al dente (we normally use wheat)


• 1 pound of mild or hot Italian sausage, casings removed


• 28 oz. of diced tomatoes


• 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped or minced


• 2/3 cup of red wine


• 1/2 cup of half-and-half (more or less, depending on desired creaminess)


• 2 bay leaves


• Fresh sage, to taste


• Fresh rosemary, to taste


• Red pepper flakes, to taste (depending on desired spiciness)


• Fresh basil, thinly chopped


• Grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Heat enough olive oil in a large skillet to coat the bottom. Bring the skillet up to temperature at medium heat, and add the onions, sausage, garlic, and salt to taste. Sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, breaking up the sausage until it is cooked through and the onions are soft. Add the diced tomatoes, bay leaves, wine, and red pepper flakes, and bring to a boil. Once the sauce is boiling, bring the temperature down to a medium-low heat and let it simmer for 30-40 minutes, covered (we normally leave the lid slightly off-center so it can let out a little steam). Once the sauce has simmered and reduced, add the sage and rosemary plus any extra seasoning needed. Bring the temperature down to a low heat and let the sauce cool before adding the cream for about 5-10 minutes. Once the sauce has cooled, add the cream slowly to the sauce while stirring (to avoid any curdling), and remove the bay leaves. Mix well with the penne, top with grated parmesan and the fresh basil, and serve.