“When I lived in Tuscany, I learned that one should not automatically use garlic and onion together,” says Julia Busuttil Nishimura. “They each have a purpose and should be used thoughtfully and often singularly. A similar lesson on the automatic use of salt and pepper was also had. Sometimes I still revert to using both, when I think it’s beneficial or necessary, but those learnings made me rethink everything I knew about cooking and especially making pasta sauces. Here, onions are the hero and needn’t be overshadowed by garlic in any sense. They’re cooked down for almost half an hour until very soft and melty.
“The result is a sweet and fragrant sauce, spiked with herbs and enriched by the sausage meat. It’s a simple sauce that requires only humble ingredients and some time.”
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 pork and fennel sausages, casings removed
3 large red onions, finely sliced
sea salt
2 tablespoons tomato paste
100ml dry white wine
400g can whole peeled tomatoes
4 sage leaves
2 oregano sprigs
black pepper
380g lumache or the pasta of your choice
grated Parmigiano Reggiano, to serve
Method
Warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium–high heat, then drop tablespoon-sized balls of the sausage meat into the pan and fry until golden on all sides. Remove the meatballs with a slotted spoon.
Reduce the heat to low, add the onion and a pinch of salt to the pan and gently fry for 20–25 minutes or until the onion is very soft and beginning to caramelise. Stir often to prevent the onion from burning. Add the tomato paste and fry off for 1–2 minutes, then deglaze with the wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to lift any brown bits, and simmer for 1–2 minutes until slightly reduced. Add the tomatoes, 400 ml of water and the sage and oregano. Return the meatballs to the pan and stir to coat in the sauce. Gently simmer for 30–35 minutes or until the sauce is thick and rich. Season to taste and keep warm.
Cook the lumache in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until just before al dente. Using a slotted spoon or sieve, transfer the pasta directly to the sauce and increase the heat to medium–high. Toss the pasta through the sauce, adding some of the pasta cooking water, as needed. Continue cooking until the pasta is al dente. Season to taste and serve with plenty of Parmigiano Reggiano.
Good Cooking Every Day (Pan Macmillan Australia, RRP $44.99) is available now at such great Victorian bookstores as Readings, Books for Cooks and Hill of Content.