While this recipe is ripe for winter, it benefited from the brightness of the abundance of tomatoes from our garden in the height of summer. The ultimate comfort meal, and you know it is a good one when the photo is awful (we couldn’t’ wait to eat)- I couldn’t wait to post the recipe for fear of losing it for next time. Flag this gorgeous creation for an indulgent autumn Saturday night on the couch.

Pasta alla Norcina

Serves 4

• 1 lb. of short pasta like rigatoni or the like
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 lb. Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 T. fresh rosemary, chopped finely
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 c. white wine
• 1.5 c. heavy cream
• 1/4 c. Parmesan, grated
• Optional: chopped fresh tomatoes
• 1/2 c. pasta water

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pan with high walls.
2. Add sausage, crumbling finely as it cooks.
3. After about five minutes, add the onion to the pan and saute together.
4. Drain grease from sausage by placing it on a paper towel and blotting as needed.
5. With residual oil/grease in pan, return onion sausage mixture to pan and add the garlic, red pepper flakes, rosemary, and nutmeg. Saute for a minute until fragrant.
6. Add the wine to the pan to deglaze the bottom, scraping with a silicone spatula.
7. Turn the heat to low and add the cream to the pan, stirring to combine.
8. Boil the salted pasta water and cook according to package instructions. Towards the end of cooking, reserve ~1/2 cup of the pasta water.
9. While the pasta is cooking, turn the sauce towards a medium heat for a few minutes, then back down to low to thicken.
10. While on low heat, stir in the Parmesan. If using fresh tomatoes, also stir them in at this final stage.
11. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, stirring to combine.
12. Thin the sauce as needed with the reserved pasta water.
13. Serve with lots of black pepper and additional Parmesan.