IYELLOW SPECIAL MENU EDITION
White Wine Fennel & Sausage Pasta
by: Jamie Aiello from the "Kitchen of It can't be Bad”

It is no surprise that good wine and good food go together like hand in glove. This is a pasta dish that should satisfy four or perhaps just two of you if you're hungry. As it is with many things these days, the ingredients are not the secret to a great dish. The preparation process can be the difference between “oh” and “oh yeah!”. On that note, you should really have a glass of wine to sip on while you prepare this dish: It just wouldn't be proper otherwise. Here's what you need to get started;

What you'll Need:



1 ½ cups White Wine (to maintain a satisfactory quality, do not use a wine that you
would not drink) If you're not sure just ask Angela






400-500 grams Italian Hot Sausage
(We make our own but there is lots of good stuff available out there)





1 cup Chopped Onions (Vidalia work nicely but regular cooking onions are fine)







½ stalk Fennel coarsely chopped






1/3 cup Olive Oil (you can find lots of good olive oil)




3 Cloves Minced Garlic






½ cup Romano Cheese finely grated





450 grams Pasta Noodles
You can use whatever you like but remember some people are not exceptionally skilled at “twirling” the pasta so you might want to give them a break. Something like the Rotini (springs), Rigatoni (tubes) or shells





2 tablespoons Salt




To get the show on the road...

1. Take a sip of your wine and a deep breath then relax.

2. Brown the sausage in a large frying pan at medium heat with a couple of tablespoons of Olive Oil. When browned, remove the sausage from the pan and cut into bite sized chunks.

3. Put another couple of tablespoons of the Olive Oil in that large frying pan and add the garlic and the onions in the pan. Sauté on a medium heat until the onions are clear (approximately 4 minutes) (but not caramelized).

4. Start the water boiling with two tablespoons of salt in a large pot to cook the pasta noodles.

5. Add the White Wine and chopped Fennel to the frying pan along with the bite sized sausage chunks and simmer until the liquid has thickened up to a light syrup like consistency.

6. Stir in the pasta into boiling water and be sure to stir the pasta well occasionally during cooking (it shouldn't stick if you use enough water and a large enough pot). Cook the pasta noodles until they are “AL DENTE” in the large pot according to the cooking time on the package. The times are always approximate so taste the pasta to see if it's done properly it should be “firm to the bite” yet cooked through (yep that's “AL”). Drain the pasta to stop the cooking and return drained pasta to the original pot.

7. Add the delicious simmered contents of the frying pan to the pasta right in the pot, add the Romano Cheese and mix it up.

8. Serve and Enjoy and don't forget to refill your wine glass!