Italian Kick

I seem to be on an Italian kick, probably because I adore Italian food but also because I have a long coil of Italian sausage to use up. We made a boatload of that kind since everyone loves it so much.

I made spaghetti sauce. Nothing unusual, really, except subbing in the spicy Italian sausage for the usual ground round in my recipe. I made a huge batch, part of which we ate one evening for dinner. I froze the rest in two square plastic treasure chests that will emerge later in the year when I don't feel like cooking.

My sauce is easy to make: all you do is sizzle the crumbled sausage meat (I slit the casing to release the contents - probably 1.5 pounds) in olive oil, then add chopped onions, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, a big can of crushed tomatoes, a smaller can of chopped tomatoes, a couple of cups of red wine, three or four bay leaves and a big handful of herbes de Provence. Sometimes, I add black olives and/or artichoke hearts, as well. While that bubbles on a low flame for an hour or two, you are free to do something else.

If you are a person of titanic self control, you can stop there and save the sauce for the next day. It will be even better if you wait. I promise.

In any case, when the sauce has filled your house with irresistible smells, start the pasta water. When the pasta is ready, spoon a little of the sauce into the bottom of your pasta bowl or plate, such that the drained pasta goes into a puddle of sauce before covering it with another big spoonful - you want every bit of that pasta to be coated. Be generous - Italians are.

At table, grate a little fresh Parmesan cheese over the mound and, picking up fork and spoon, twirl your way into spaghetti nirvana.