At Home in Sicily!

The aroma of fava bean soup, the desire to have pasta with olive oil, of the impanate filled with onions, potatoes and tomatoes, is a nostalgic memory that every year, in the summer months, calls back thousands of emigrants. The memory of these hills, of the bread, of the wine, of the fruit that is found here, remains in one's memory like a calling to which it is difficult to escape. ~ Corrado Sofia (Writer from Noto, Sicily)



Pasta with Sausage & Fennel

Serves 4-6 People

Ingredients
1/2 pound of Sicilian Sausage
1 clove of garlic - minced
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of white wine 1 head of Fresh fennel Trofie or cavadeddi [cavatelli] pasta
Grated Parmigiano reggiano
(http://www.parmigiano-reggiano.it)

Directions

Note: for this recipe you must buy the best quality sausage (made fresh at an Italian butcher or specialty shop) and you must find the freshest fennel and extra virgin olive oil possible.

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Cover the bottom of a frying pan with olive oil and fry the garlic [which has been minced]. Remove the sausage from the skins and once the garlic has infused the oil, fry it until you see the sausage is cooked. Add the white wine and cook on a low
flame until all of the liquid evaporates. This should take about 5 minutes.

When the pasta water comes to a boil, salt it and add the pasta to the cooking water.
Cook at a rolling boil until al dente.
Drain the pasta, and toss into the pan of olive oil and sausage.
Transfer it to a large serving bowl and add all of the lennel fronds and some of the more delicate tender pieces of fennel.
You can serve the rest of the fennel bulb as a salad with oranges, olives and onions.
You want to add the fennel just before serving this dish at the table. You can make this dish with trofie, or cavadeddi or gnochetti pasta. Serve at the table family style with a dish of your favorite grated cheese. Enjoy!