Rigatoni alla Pasta Day

Technically not a One Bowl Wonder because we're serving the arugula in a second bowl! But 10/17/19 is National Pasta Day in the US so consider this a SPECIAL EDITION One Bowl Wonder for a very, very important holiday! This exquisite dish can be made vegan or omni with your choice of pastas and the tomato sauce is boss. You'll never buy bottle sauce again, this CHANGES YOU.

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

• 1 lb of regular or spicy italian sausage – either Beyond (vegan), pork or chicken
• 2 glugs extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 28oz can of organic whole peeled tomatoes by Muir Glen whizzed in the blender (I love Muir Glen)
• 1 bunch of basil
• sea salt

For the pasta:

• 16oz of your favorite pasta. Wheat, GF, protein enriched. If possible for wheat pasta, buy a brand imported from Italy as their flour standards are more rigorous and they use durum flour which is higher in protein.
• Sea salt 

Directions for the sauce:

1. In a skillet, chop up (with a spatula) and brown the sausage until fully cooked. Set aside on a plate.

2. Put the garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes into a large sauce pan before you turn the heat on. This helps with not burning the garlic, it can heat more gradually than adding it to an already hot pan.

3. Once that gets fragrant, add the tomatoes, basil and a big pinch of sea salt. I take the leaves off the basil and later remove them from the sauce before serving but you can also just leave them in.

4. I let this cook for 15 minutes or so and stir regularly as it starts to coat the outside of the pan.

6. Add the sausage back to the sauce. Option to leave it over very low heat if your pasta still has a ways to go.

Directions for the pasta:

1. Cook to al dente per the package instructions. I always add salt to the water BEFORE I put the pasta in. You never want to add salt to already cooked pasta so add it to the water instead. I never add oil to my water, stirring the pasta a few times while cooking should keep it from sticking.

2. When the pasta is done, drain it and dump into a large serving bowl.

3. Pour the sausage sauce over top, toss well.

4. Top with microplane grated parmesan or pecorino romano (omit for vegan).

5. I love to serve this meal with a side salad of simply arugula with lemon-infused olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. 

6. NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM