Ingredients

• 1T olive oil
• 3/4 lb (375 g) hot Italian sausage with fennel seed, loose or casings removed (if you can't find sausage flavored with fennel, add 1/2 t fennel seeds
• 1lb (500g) ripe plum (Roma) tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 2T minced fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
• 1/2 cup (4 fl oz/125 ml) heavy (double) cream
• salt and ground pepper to taste
• 1 lb (500g) dried cavatappi or fusilli
• 1 cup (4 oz/125 g) grated Parmesan cheese
• Please don't try to make this with another kind of pasta. We Italians make all those funny shapes for a reason. These two are really the best for the sauce. Also, don't try to go all skim milk on me. Get the heavy cream and go for an extra long walk the n

Directions

1. In a large saute’ pan over medium-low heat, warm the olive oil. Add the sausage and cook slowly, breaking it up into bits with a fork until it loses its raw color, about 5 minutes; do not allow it to brown or harden. Stir in the tomatoes and parsley. (Don’t let too much of the tomato juice get in there. It will make it tougher to thicken once you add the cream) Raise the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, until the tomatoes have softened, 5-10 minutes. Stir in the cream and simmer briefly until the cream thickens slightly, about 3 mins. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

2. Now boil your water, the cook the pasta al dente. Don’t do it simultaneouly (along with the sauce) as many of us kitchen taskmasters will do because the sauce will need the time to hang out and thicken up. When the pasta is close to being done, reheat the sauce gently over low heat.

3. Drain the pasta, return to the warm pot (which I always rinse out with hot water cuz who wants all that starchy mess all over your pasta, I mean really), add the sauce and toss. Divide among warmed dishes and serve at once. Pass the parm at the table.

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