Uncle Nino’s Pasta

Everybody loves Uncle Nino, and everybody loves Nino’s pasta. Nino is my older brother by two years, but for some reason everyone thinks I’m older. I guess I’ll let you be the judge. Anyways.. Nino has had lots of jobs, and let’s just say at one point in his life, being a full time student was his job. And during that time, he decided to go to the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. He packed up his car, drove it all the way from California to Vermont in less than 48 hours, with just one bag and a bottle of NoDoz. I am not sure if they even still sell NoDoz, but today he would probably just drink Red Bull for 48 hours straight. He started culinary school, and in less than 3 days, Nino decided that chopping, working in a hot kitchen, and waking up at 5 a.m wasn’t for him, so he packed up his car and drove right back to California. He got a full refund and continued his studies in economics, but it didn’t stop Nino from cooking. Nino can be a slightly messy cook and takes an incredibly long time to make a meal, but don’t get me wrong, you will get a fabulous dinner that might include homemade pasta, fresh tomato sauce, and a salad thrown on your plate with his very own hands. I am appreciative whenever I get a meal cooked for me, but most people can’t wait 6 hours for someone to prepare a meal, and so Nino finally came up with a pasta dish that only takes 30 minutes.

Now this is my kind of meal; quick, easy, everything in one pot, and I won’t pass out while waiting for him to cook. Nino’s pasta has only 5 ingredients, so it’s not only easy to cook, but it’s easy on the wallet, and it looks fabulous. Throw on some fresh parmesan, some chopped Italian parsley and you are ready to go.

I love to get the tomatoes in the blue can at Trader Joes ( I know it’s strange, but I do buy stuff just because it’s pretty) but you can get them anywhere. Nino likes to chop all the tomatoes neatly on a cutting board, but I just take my scissors and cut them directly in the can. Nino wouldn’t approve, but we are not going to tell him.

Let me know what you think. I think this recipe will make the whole family happy. Cheers!

Here’s a picture of Uncle Nino in his heyday. He had lots of hair and a “mustache”. Now the only hair he has is on his legs and chest, but I just wanted you to have this visual.

Uncle Nino's pasta

Servings: 4-6
Time: 30 minutes total
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Quick and easy one pot pasta dinner.

“Use any shape pasta you want, we like tubular shapes because it holds all the yummy sauce.”

Ingredients

1 pound pasta, we like rigatoni
11-12oz Fully cooked mild or hot Italian sausage, sliced
28 oz can whole plum tomatoes, Italian style, chopped
1/2 cup of heavy cream
2 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons of chopped fresh rosemary
salt to taste
parmesan cheese and parsley for garnish

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, and prepare pasta according to package directions.
While your pasta is cooking, start your sauce. In a large pot, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add sliced sausage to melted butter and brown.
Add can of chopped tomatoes and stir to scrape all of the brown bits off the pot. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Once tomatoes have simmered, add 1/4 cup of water and cook for another five minutes.
Add the heavy cream and chopped rosemary and season to taste.
Add cooked pasta to the sauce and stir to absorb sauce. Taste again for seasoning.
Now call your family down for dinner so they can garnish as they please. We know not everyone likes “green stuff” on their pasta, but we do, and my kids like to smother theirs with a ton of parmesan cheese.