Tonight I made an embarrassingly easy dish that always turns out great:
I give you "Sausage Pasta".
It is a variant of the Italian classic "Orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe". Back when I began to teach myself how to cook, I saw this recipe in a Giada De Laurentis book. As I was cooking it I really liked the smell of the sausage (and the fennel) and garlic. I was dismayed with the final dish because broccoli rabe (or rapini) is quite bitter, and my family wasn't impressed with it. I was disappointed, as it seemed like it was going to be really good up until when I put in the rabe. So, I improvised next time, and substituted a LOT of Italian parsley. Game changer for my family, it is now one of our faves.
Boil up a pound of pasta (orecchiette or shells work well). At the same time, brown a pound of sausage in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. I like hot Italian, wifey likes mild, so I go half and half, adding more chili flake to my plate at the end. Once browned, throw in three minced garlic cloves and a healthy pinch of chili flake (more if you are not married to Ms. Wallacengrommit). Remove from heat and add a lot of chopped parsley. Drain pasta, but reserve about 2 cups of pasta water. Deglaze the sausage pan with some of the water, and mix everything together. Add about 1/3 cup of grated Parmesan and a half teaspoon of ground black pepper. Mix, and add pasta water as needed. The 'sauce' should not be dry, but the pasta should not be swimming in water either, each of the shells should basically be glistening with the combination of olive oil, pork fat, water and parm. Plate and eat.
This is just after the parsley went in (I usually use more):
This is the final product:
Some of the pasta shells look like they are just naked pasta - this is NOT the case, they are covered with 'sauce'. I hope you like it.