Pasta with White Sausage Sauce

By lorik

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage (if using link sausage, remove it from the casing)
• 1/2 cup water, white wine or red wine
• 1/2 pound cut pasta like ziti
• 1/2 cup or more freshly grated Parmesan
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

Step 1

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

Put the butter in a medium skillet over medium-low heat. As it melts, crumble the sausage meat into it, making the bits quite small, 1/2 inch or less. Add the liquid, and adjust the heat so that the mixture simmers gently.

Cook the pasta until it is tender but not at all mushy. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Drain the pasta, and dress with the sauce, adding a little of the reserved cooking liquid if necessary. Toss with salt, pepper and Parmesan, and serve

Try sautéing a leek in the butter before adding the sausage.