Maccheroni alla Salsiccia e Ricotta (Macaroni with Sausage, Tomatoes & Ricotta)

Another sausage-based pasta dish, always welcome. The recipe as written calls for less sauce for the same amount of pasta, but we ramped up the sausage and tomatoes to even out the proportions a bit and I think that worked well, in addition to letting us use up an integer number of sausage and tomato packages. The recipe recorded here is the modified version.

The recipe recommends maccheroni, which we used, but also notes that it works well with penne, fusilli, rigatoni -- basically any relatively short, high surface area pasta.

Maccheroni alla Salsiccia e Ricotta

The Classic Pasta Cookbook, p.117

Ingredients

• 1 lb dry pasta
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 lb mild Italian sausage, peeled and crumbled
• 1 28oz tin whole peeled tomatoes, with juice, coarsely chopped
• salt and pepper
• ½ C ricotta
• 2 tbsp freshly torn basil leaves
• ¼ C freshly grated parmesan

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add the onion and cook until it softens and turns golden.
3. Add the sausage and cook until it has browned lightly.
4. Season lightly with salt and pepper, keeping in mind that the sausage already has seasonings.
5. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking until the tomatoes have reduced and separated; reduce heat to warm.
   
6. Meanwhile, cook the pasta al dente.
7. When the pasta is almost done, return the sauce to medium heat and stir in the ricotta and basil.
8. Toss with the pasta and parmesan and serve.