Rigatoni with Green Cut Sausage is the recipe I promised to share short time back. And I make it a point to always deliver on my promises.
Nag’s Head Lighthouse
Water and wetlands are everywhere you look.
Hatteras Island
But before I go into details about this delectable creation I want to share about our stay in Hatteras. We left the North River Campground that Friday morning for a week’s stay on Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks. It was a gorgeous drive hopping through the Outer Banks passing beaches, towns vast expanses of water and dunes so high along the highway that they hid our view of everything except sky.
Hatteras Sands Campground
Along the way to Hatteras Sands Campground we observed some wonderful farm stands and seafood markets that we made mental notes to return to during our stay. We settled in to our camping site and went to the pool to relax and cool off. And then the clouds started rolling in. Checking the weather there was a lot of talk about Hurricane Isaias but we didn’t give it a second thought. After 38 years of living in Florida we are pretty used to hurricane talk and we don’t panic.
Creating a recipe
Green Cut Sausage from Shiloh Market
The cast of characters for my Rigatoni with Green Cut Sausage
So I made a wonderful meal of Rigatoni with Green Cut Sausage, using that interesting sausage that I bought while in Shawboro. There wasn’t much left in the larder so I searched for ingredients that might taste good together. I had some leftover fresh corn that I had cut off the cobs, garlic, fresh tomatoes and onion.
Easy dinner
My rigatoni is draining and sauce bubbling away.
Everyone’s in the hot tub!
Rigatoni with Green Cut Sausage tossed with Pecorino Romano
So I removed the sausage from the casing and cooked it in a little olive oil. I chopped up the garlic and onion and added that to my pan. Then I whirred the tomatoes in the blender, skin, seeds and all. I added that to the pan with salt and pepper along with the fresh corn. When it was all finished cooking I added my cooked rigatoni to the pan with about a half cup of the starchy pasta cooking water. Gave the whole dish a chance to marry all of the ingredients and served it up with lots of Pecorino Romano and a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes. We inhaled our dinner and our only regret was that we didn’t have any crusty bread to sop up all of the savory juices at the bottom of our pasta bowls.
Isaias is coming
The next morning we were awakened to the siren blasts on our phones alerting us that there was a mandatory evacuation for all visitors to Hatteras!!! Our reservations were being transferred to Hatteras Sand sister camp in Williamsburg VA. Since this was a mandatory evacuation and Hatteras is like being in Key West, with only one road in and out, we obeyed. We were happy we left when we did because traffic wasn’t awful yet. We also noticed that quite a bit of sand from those very high dunes had blown onto the road. Once the road gets covered they close them because the sand makes it too dangerous to travel.
Driving passed the sand dunes in the Outer Banks
Sand blowing across the road as we evacuate Hatteras
Well, at least we had a good dinner the night before. We had planned on visiting Williamsburg in a couple of weeks, so we just changed our route a bit. RVing is certainly an adventure.
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Rigatoni with Green Cut Sausage
And easy but delicious dish that was created from slim pickings. The ingredients list may be short, but the flavor is certainly not lacking!
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 servings 1x
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 savory pork sausages, casings removed (I used Green Cut Sausage)
3–5 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
3–4 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 1/2 corn, fresh or frozen and defrosted
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound rigatoni, cooked al dente
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
hot pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat until shimmering. Add sausage, season with salt and pepper, and cook, breaking up the sausage, until fully cooked, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add the onions and garlic and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Whir the tomatoes in a blender until puréed, Then add to the pan along with the corn. Cook until the tomatoes and corn are hot.
- Add the pasta to the pan along with about 1/2 cup pasta water and cook until heated through, just a minute or two longer.
- Place about a half cup Pecorino Romano in the bottom of a large serving bowl. Top with the pasta and sausage mixture. Toss well to incorporate the cheese. Add hot pepper flakes to taste if you like spice. Serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sautéing
- Cuisine: Southern
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