Pasta con Salsiccie e Piselli

I

found an old journal recently, that covered two weeks I spent a few years ago, in San Francisco. It was filled, cover to cover, with notes about places, events, and food. Mostly food. And as far as the food was concerned, those two weeks turned out to be a two week highlight video. San Francisco is a great food town. And while I spent the majority of my time dining in the Major League at places like Zuni Cafe, Boulevard, Jardiniere et al, perhaps the most memorable meal was the first one I had when I arrived.

I don't recall the time, but it was late. I was jet lagged, but still hungry. I was house-sitting in Noe Valley, and I figured even Mickey Dee's would be good enough just this once; I still had two weeks of great meals to look forward to. I could do one throwaway.

So I was surprised and pleased to find a little Italian spot called Bucca, one block away from the house, and even more surprised to see—as I looked at some of the dishes going by—they seemed to be doing it right.

Again, for this one meal, I was seeking something quick and easy. Of course, pasta was just the thing. As a bonus, though, given my love of all things porcine, the logical menu choice seemed to be Pasta con Salsiccie e Piselli, pasta with sausages and peas.

The dish seemed to be a meeting of North and South: the peas and cream from, say, Modena, meeting the sausages and tomatoes of Naples. But there was something about the texture that made the dish especially appealing to me. Rather than using the traditional method of serving the sausages in thin slices, the chefs had ground the sausages very finely before adding them to the sauce.

I asked my waiter about this, and he assured me that the chefs merely removed the sausages from their casings and ground them up with the back of a fork as they were cooking. This may be a fine technique, but it doesn't work for me in trying to recreate the dish I had that night. So I devised another step that has brought me closer to the real McCoy: I sauté the sausages, then remove them from the pan and pulse them several times in the Cuisinart before returning them to the sauce.

While I may indeed have spent two weeks dining—as I said—in the Majors, Bucca, and Pasta con Salsiccie e Piselli turned out to be a happy find indeed; able to hold their own in any league.

Pasta con Salsiccie e Piselli
Pasta with Sausages and Peas

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Lb. Italian sausage, casings removed
Olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 28 oz. Can Italian plum tomatoes, preferrably San Marzano
4 Tbs. Flat-leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
1/2 Cup heavy cream
1 10 oz. Package frozen baby peas, thawed
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 Lb. Rigatoni or Mostacioli

Preparation:

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, then add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the sausages, and, sauté— breaking them up with the back of a fork—until the sausages have lost any trace of pinkness.

Pour the sausages into the bowl of the Cuisinart, and pulse four or five times, for one second each pulse, and reserve.

Return the pan to the heat, and add the garlic. Sauté for approximately one minute, then add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a fork as they go in. Reduce the heat to the simmer, and return the sausages to the pan. Add the parsley, season with salt and pepper as necessary, and simmer for approximately twenty minutes.

Add the cream to the sauce and stir to blend. Add the peas, and stir to combine.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water (at least six quarts) to the boil, then add the pasta. Cook until the pasta has reached the al dente state, then drain in a collander.

To Serve:

Divide the pasta equally among four plates, and add a dollop of sauce to each. To serve family style, pour the pasta onto a large plater and spoon the sauce over all. Garnish with additional chopped parsley.

Serves four.

Salsiccie e Crauti

I

've always felt I was ahead of the curve when it came to real Italian food. I mean, I was cooking Tuscan dishes in the seventies. I had a meal at Enoteca Pinchiori [in Florence] at a time when the dinner tab didn't equal the price of a semester at Yale. My recipe for Lasagne alla Bolognese left the dinner guests whispering among themselves, "I don't taste any garlic." Or, "Where's the oregano." Or, "There's no ricotta in this dish."

Nevertheless, I was flummoxed when I stopped for a couple of hours once in Cortina d'Ampezzo, to see sauerkraut being served at a local trattoria. Of course, I expressed my concern to my waiter, but he assured me that sauerkraut was indeed una ricetta tipico locale, a local specialty.

While Cortina d'Ampezzo is located in the same province as Venice, it's a world away, in terms of its cuisine. Cortina is one of the premier ski destinations in Europe, and, being in the Swiss Alps, the cuisine reflects the geography. This is a place where folks like Alberto Tomba (a.k.a. Tomba la Bomba) enjoy a dish of Salsiccie e Crauti, sausages and sauerkraut, at the end of a long day of bombing the "black" slopes of Mt. Cristallo.

I've never been a fan of sauerkraut, except for occasional indulgences at a hot dog stand around 49^th and Broadway in Manhattan. But I love to know what Italians eat. And, I love to know how to make things from scratch. In the case of sauerkraut, that part turned out to be easy. All it takes is cabbage, salt, and time.

My timing for this batch of sauerkraut turned out well too. It was ready yesterday; the day we had our first significant snowfall here in southeastern Connecticut. So, despite the fact that we wear Topsiders rather than ski boots around here, Salsiccie e Crauti turned out to be a good choice for dinner.

Crauti Fatta in Casa
Homemade Sauerkraut

Ingredients:

1 Head cabbage, approximately 5 Lb.
3 Tbs. Kosher salt

Preparation:

Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage, leaving only those that form a tight, light-green ball.

Cut the cabbage into quarters, then trim away and discard the inner stem.

Slice the quartered cabbage sections as thinly as possible. (A mandoline is a good tool for this task). As you finish slicing each quarter, place the slices in a non-reactive bowl, sprinkle with a large pinch of the salt, and toss with your hands, or with cooking tongs. (See notes)

Wait until the cabbage/salt mixture has begun to exude some moisture. You'll be able to see and feel when this happens. Then, place the sliced and salted cabbage in a large, earthenware crock (See notes) to form a layer approximately one inch deep, and press down with your fingers inverted upward, as if you were making a fist. Repeat until you've used all the cabbage/salt mixture.

Cover the cabbage/salt mixture with a layer or two of plastic wrap, then, using a waste-basket sized plastic bag filled with about 1 gallon of water, place it over the container that holds the future sauerkraut. This will create a weighted, air-tight seal. Store the sauerkraut in a room with an ambient temperature of 70 F. for three to four weeks.

After 24 hours, check the sauerkraut's progress. If it hasn't exuded enough liquid to completely cover the cabbage--and that has been true of this batch, because the room in which I'd stored it had an ambient temperature of 58 F.-- add 1 quart of water, with 1 Tbs of salt that you've boiled and cooled. Then, re-cover with the water seal, and just let it sit for three to four weeks.

Notes: I happen to own an earthenware crock. I only say that to show off though, because right now, I don't know if it's in Boston, or Rockport, MA., or Newburyport, MA. So, for $1.99, I bought a plastic 5 gallon paint can at my local True-Value hardware store that worked perfectly well as a storage vehicle for my sauerkraut.

Also, if you don't have a non-reactive bowl large enough to accomodate all the cabbage and salt in one batch, make the sauerkraut in four stages. Cut up a quarter of the cabbage; add the salt and toss; then put it into your container, and continue with the rest of the cabbage and salt.

Note also: An alert reader sent e-mail overnight to suggest that you scald the container intended to hold the sauerkraut with two or three quarts of boiling water before adding the cabbage/salt mixture. Good advice, and many thanks.

Salsiccie e Crauti

Ingredients:

Olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 Lb. Italian sausages
4 - 5 Cups sauerkraut

Preparation:

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat, then add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, and saute for approximately one minute, until the garlic begins to give off its oils.

Add the sausages, and brown thoroughly for approximately ten minutes.

Remove the sausages from the pot, and add the sauerkraut, stirring to allow the sauerkraut to absorb the flavor of the sausages and garlic. Lower the heat to medium-low, return the sausages to the pot, cover, and cook at low heat for another ten or fifteen minutes.

To Serve:

Divide the sausages and sauerkraut equally among four dinner plates. I didn't happen to have any last night, but it would be perfectly fine to garnish with chopped, flat-leaf Italian parsley. Also, I simply had some bread with my Salsiccie e Crauti. Around Cortina d'Ampezzo, though, it wouldn't be unusual to find them served with boiled potatoes either.

Serves four.