Almost Italian

Photograph courtesy PTRoss

Many an Italian-American will claim that this recipe is the authentic Pasta alla Napoletana or Pasta alla Calabrese or even Pasta Pugliese. Such claims will be “substantiated” by printed restaurant menus dating back to the 1950′s or by an oil-stained recipe index card in Aunt Rosa’s hand… But authenticity, particularly in culinary research, is an elusive commodity.

“Trust, but verify,” said Ronald Reagan, which runs contrary to our tale-spinning mantra: Se non è vero…

This much is certain: southern Italians who emigrated to North America, whether they’d sailed from Naples or Palermo, all knew the pleasures of a tomato-based sauce with which they enriched whatever else they had. Garlic, olive oil, tomatoes…maybe some garden basil or wild herbs, salt, and peperoncino made the basic sauce for whatever they could cook, catch, or buy; and many of them could not afford much. Certainly, for most of Italians in the first waves of immigration, meat had not been a staple.

But here in America, with its vast grasslands and organized feed-lots, meat production was on a scale that would have been unimaginable to the peasant who ate a full meal of meat only a few times each year, perhaps at a village wedding or baptism.

Here, the basic marinara sauce embellished any meat a cook chose—meatballs, pork ribs, tripe, or the distinctively seasoned sausages made throughout the southern Italian peninsula. Since the earliest Italian-American restaurants were serving a largely non-Italian clientele, customers needed names for these concoctions. So someone with roots in Campania would tell an Irish or German-American that his sausage and peppers served over tubular pasta was Pasta alla Napoletana, while a cook from Catanzaro might call the same combination Pasta Calabrese.

Having the basic ingredients in common, southern Italian immigrants to America were the first Italians anywhere to create a cuisine that really could be called “Italian.” Yet, funnily enough, they chose to distinguish themselves and their dishes with labels denoting regional origins.

Pasta with Sausage and Peppers

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. olive oil
2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Medium onion, chopped
1/2 Cup dry red wine
1 28 Oz. Can plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano)
1 Cup roasted sweet peppers, roughly chopped (see note)
4 Links sweet Italian sausage, sliced into 1in. rounds
4 Tbs. Flat-leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
4 Tbs. Fresh basil, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Lb. Penne or Rigatoni
4 Tbs. Flat-leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
Freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Preparation:

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, then add the olive oil. Add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute. Lower the heat to medium and add the chopped onions. Sauté until they become translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the wine and boil for 2 – 3 minutes to allow the alcohol to boil off. Add the tomatoes, peppers, sausages, parsley, and basil. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary. Lower the heat and adjust so that the sauce will barely simmer. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes.

In the meantime, bring a large pot of salted water (at least 6 Quarts) to the boil. Approximately ten minutes before serving, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain in a colander, then pour onto a platter or divide equally among four plates. Ladle the sauce over the pasta and garnish with the remaining parsley. Pass the Parmesan or Romano separately at the table.

Serves four.