Italian Sausage & Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

The second week of June and the marches continued, the news continued, the particular exhaustion of sustained grief and sustained anger that doesn't resolve because the thing causing it doesn't resolve. I was thinking about it constantly — in a structured way when I could, in an overwhelming way when I couldn't. I had been reading: history, organizing theory, the specifics of criminal justice reform. Not because I had to but because I needed to understand what I was angry about with full precision. Anger without understanding is just noise. Anger with understanding is something you can use.

I wrote an op-ed for the school paper — not a news piece, an opinion piece, about the long history of Black Baton Rouge residents and their relationship to the legal system, using what I had learned in AP US History and what I had read on my own. Mr. Clark, the journalism teacher, reached out over email to say it was the strongest piece a student had submitted in years. He asked if he could submit it to a regional student journalism competition. I said yes.

Tanya was writing too — poetry now, not the grandmother migration cycle but something more urgent, more present. She sent me three poems over text and they were the best things she had written. Raw and precise, which is the combination that makes writing true. I sent her back: "These are it. Send them everywhere." She did.

I made a big pot of Mama's red gravy on Sunday — the slow-cooked tomato and meat sauce — and we ate pasta that evening with extra bread because sometimes you need a meal that takes time to make and then takes time to eat and gives you hours of something warm and domestic while the world is doing what the world was doing. Daddy had two bowls. Mama had two bowls. We talked and then we were quiet and then we talked again. That is what a Sunday table is for.

That pot of red gravy is the recipe I reach for when I need the kitchen to do some of the emotional labor — when the world is loud and the table needs to be quiet and good. This Italian Sausage & Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta is close kin to Mama’s version: deeply savory, built low and slow, the kind of sauce that fills the whole house with something that smells like intention. Make extra bread. You’ll want it.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed (sweet or hot)
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup dry red wine (or beef broth)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 lb rigatoni or penne pasta
1/4 cup fresh basil, torn, for serving
Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Instructions

Brown the sausage. In a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the sausage, breaking it into crumbles, until browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate, leaving about 1 tablespoon of drippings in the pot.
Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant.
Add tomatoes and wine. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, then pour in the red wine and let it bubble for 2 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
Simmer the sauce. Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, dried basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, and sugar. Return the sausage to the pot, stir well, and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and the flavors deepen.
Cook the pasta. About 15 minutes before the sauce is done, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.
Combine and serve. Toss the drained pasta directly into the sauce, adding a splash of reserved pasta water if needed to loosen. Serve in deep bowls topped with torn fresh basil and grated Parmesan.

Nutrition (per serving)

Italian Sausage & Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta — The Sunday Pot That Holds Everything Together