Growing up, going to my aunt and uncles on my mother's side was always an event, be it 4th of July or birthday parties, Christmases you name it, we were there. Well she married into an Italian family from South Omaha back in the 50s and naturally, pasta and sausages would become a regular staple at there house. I looked forward to it each time we went over. My favorite was rigatoni and Italian sausage with red sauce mixed in. I'm not sure if this is a "Midwestern variant" of what others do but it's always been a favorite of mine. Of course I was dying to adapt it for the kettle. I love the simplicity of it!
Ingredients: two boxes of your favorite pasta. I went with rigatoni since that's what my aunt used the most.
One can/jar of your favorite red spaghetti sauce.
Two packs of Italian sausage. I prefer HOT but I did sweet here for my wife and daughter.
Tools needed:
One 22.5" Weber kettle.
I chose a 1973 yellow hence the Gourmet title. You can make the Statesman, Gardener, Warrior or Performer variants of this dish. What ever you like to use. There's no rules here.
One gourmet grate system grate. Hey another more modern reason to call it "Gourmet". You'll need the center for the first part of the cook.
One 10-12" Dutch oven for the pasta. A 10" Lodge one fits here, the handles rest comfortably on the grate and doesn't way it down.
Set your grill for direct grilling with one side clear for a cool zone just past the center. Ensure the coals will be underneath the Dutch oven. Preheat your grill, crack a beer or soda or your favorite beverage of choice and watch the magic happen.
After cleaning and oiling the grate, start by browning the sausages over direct heat, about two minutes per side, turning once. Don't finish them here. Your just browning them at this point.
Then move them to the cool side of the grill lining them up so they are along the outside of the Dutch oven. They will continue to cook slowly and get a nice smokey flavor in the process. I promise you they will stay moist. Even get a nice smoke ring later when you slice them.
Remove the center grate, grab your Dutch oven and fill it 3/4 with cold water, I added some EVOO and salt. I always use pink Himalayan salt but you can use whatever you want. Bring to a boil.
Then add your pasta. Cook to al dente depending on where your coals are in burning process, cooking time may vary. It took about 12 minutes here. Normally 7-8 on a stove.
Remove the sausage at this time let rest for 5 minutes. While the pasta finishes. Then drain pasta like normal. The return to Dutch oven. Slice the sausages and add to the pasta. Stir in your sauce and at this point you CAN return it to the grill but the heat retained in the Dutch oven does a great job cooking the sauce for a couple minutes. Add some Parmesan and enjoy!
One more with the flash. Sorry no plated pics. We dove right in.
This serves 4 comfortably with some leftovers. So maximum would be it serves 6.
Thanks for looking!
Topic: Gourmet Rigatoni & Italian Sausage (Read 1322 times)