Category Archives: Italian

Rigatoni with Kale and Sausage

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Okay, we need to talk about this pasta. Fennel sausage and tender kale are having a full-on romance with mezze rigatoni in a glossy white wine sauce, and garlic breadcrumbs crashed the party in the best way.

Rigatoni didn’t just show up for this dish, it trained for it. Those sturdy tubes and deep ridges are basically flavor magnets, grabbing onto every crumble of sausage, every wilted kale leaf, every last drop of that glossy sauce. The fennel sausage is doing the heavy lifting (with a sneaky sweet anise twist), crushed red pepper brings just enough heat to keep you on your toes, and lacinato* kale swoops in with earthy bitterness to keep things from getting too indulgent. Balance, baby.

Here’s the move: brown that sausage and then walk away. Don’t touch it. Don’t stir it. Let it sit there getting caramelized and gorgeous while it builds a pan full of golden fond, aka the flavor foundation your sauce didn’t know it needed.

And then, the mic drop: a ridiculously generous shower of crispy garlic breadcrumbs on top. Crunch city. Texture heaven. Add a flurry of Parmigiano-Reggiano and a few cracks of black pepper, and congratulations, you’ve built a pasta that’s spicy, savory, bitter, and crunchy, all at once, all in one bowl.

NOTE: While we did use all 7 tablespoons of the butter in the pasta as directed, we felt it was way too much and could easily be reduced without comprising the richness of the dish. Depend on your comfort zone as to how much, or little, you want to add.

*Unable to source lacinato kale at the supermarket, we went with curly kale. It just needs to be cooked a few minutes longer in Step 2.

Rigatoni with Kale and Sausage

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Garlic Breadcrumbs

  • 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 2 garlic cloves, grated
  • 1 cup panko
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 Tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Pasta

  • 6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 8 garlic cloves, chopped (about 2 1/2 Tbsp.), divided
  • 1 tsp. crushed red pepper, divided
  • 1 large bunch lacinato kale, stemmed and roughly chopped (about 4 packed cups)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • 1 lb. mezze rigatoni pasta
  • 7 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided (see head note)
  • 1 1/2 lbs. fennel sausage (about 4 links) or Italian sausage, casings removed
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 3/4 cup chicken stock
  • 3 oz. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (about 3/4 cup), divided
  • Fennel pollen (optional) and black pepper, for garnish

Directions

  1. Make the garlic breadcrumbs: Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium until butter is melted. Add garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Stir in panko and salt; cook, stirring often, until panko is golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove pan from heat; stir in oregano and garlic powder. Transfer to a medium bowl, and set aside. Wipe skillet clean.
  2. Make the pasta: Heat 3 tablespoons oil in skillet over medium. Add half the chopped garlic (about 3 3/4 teaspoons) and 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add kale; toss to coat. Add 1/2 cup water; cover and cook, undisturbed, until kale is tender but still bright green, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Transfer kale to a medium bowl, and set aside. Wipe skillet clean.
  3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high. Add pasta, and cook according to package directions for al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups cooking liquid.
  4. While pasta cooks, heat 3 tablespoons butter and remaining 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high in skillet. Add sausage to pan in a single layer; cook, undisturbed, until sausage is browned on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook, breaking up sausage into small crumbles using a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
  5. Add remaining chopped garlic (about 3 3/4 teaspoons) and remaining 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper to skillet; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant and golden, about 30 seconds. Add wine; cook, stirring constantly and scraping up any browned bits from bottom of skillet, until wine is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add chicken stock, and bring to a simmer over medium-high. Simmer until stock is reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, and stir in reserved kale until combined.
  6. Add drained pasta and remaining 1/4 cup butter to skillet, and heat over medium; toss until butter melts, adding reserved cooking liquid as needed to form a glossy sauce. Remove pan from heat; gradually stir in 1/2 cup grated cheese, tossing constantly until sauce clings to pasta. Top with reserved garlic breadcrumbs, remaining 1/4 cup cheese, fennel pollen (if using), and black pepper. Serve immediately.

http://www.lynnandruss.com

Adapted from a recipe by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo for Food & Wine

Miso Chicken Piccata

Italian

This dish takes the bright, briny Italian classic and gives it a playful Japanese-inspired twist, trading the traditional white wine for mirin’s gentle sweetness and building a deeply savory sauce with white miso in place of the usual flour-thickened base.

Halving the chicken breasts lengthwise into thin cutlets, then slicing them into smaller pieces, creates quick-cooking planks with plenty of surface area to soak up all that flavorful sauce. A light dredge in cornstarch does double duty: it helps the chicken turn beautifully golden and crisp in the skillet, while also lending the finished sauce a silky, clingy body.

The pan sauce comes together by whisking miso and mirin into chicken broth, then simmering the mixture right in the skillet, scraping up all those browned, flavor-packed bits left behind from searing the chicken — the result is a sauce with real umami depth.

Chopped capers and a generous hit of fresh lemon juice bring the tang that piccata is known for, while a bit of lemon zest stirred in adds a bright, aromatic lift that keeps the richness from feeling heavy.

Finally, a swirl of butter off the heat brings the whole sauce together into something glossy, silky, and irresistible — perfect spooned generously over the chicken and finished with sliced scallions for a fresh, savory bite.

Miso Chicken Piccata

  • Servings: 3-4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • 2 (8- to 10-oz.) boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • ¼ tsp. pepper
  • ½ cup cornstarch
  • ¾ cup chicken broth
  • 3 Tbsp. mirin
  • 2 Tbsp. white miso
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
  • 2 Scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced thin
  • 1 Tbsp. capers, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. lemon zest
  • Steamed white rice, for serving

Directions

  1. Halve 2 trimmed chicken breasts horizontally to create 4 cutlets. Working with 1 cutlet at a time, place between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound to even ½-inch thickness, then slice each cutlet into 3 pieces. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. (When sliced in half horizontally, our breasts were 1/2 thick or less, so there was no need to pound them.)
  2. Spread cornstarch in shallow dish. Coat chicken lightly with cornstarch, shaking off excess.
  3. Whisk chicken broth, mirin, and white miso together in bowl until miso is dissolved; set aside.
  4. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to plate.( If necessary, sear in two batches so as not to steam the chicken.)
  5. Reduce heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon unsalted butter and thinly sliced whites of scallions to now-empty skillet and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  6.  Add miso mixture, scraping up any browned bits. Simmer until slightly reduced, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in chopped, capers, lemon juice, and lemon zest and simmer for 30 seconds longer. 
  7. Off heat, whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons butter until sauce is smooth and glossy. Return chicken to skillet and toss to coat. Serve over hot steamed rice and sprinkle with thinly sliced scallion greens.

http://www.lynnandruss.com

Adapted from a recipe by Maggie Zhu for America’s Test Kitchen