Rigatoni with Sausage and Fresh Mozzarella Recipe
Rigatoni with sausage and fresh mozzarella is a hearty, satisfying dish that combines robust flavors with a comforting, cheesy finish. This recipe combines the richness of Italian sausage, the freshness of mozzarella, and the satisfying bite of rigatoni pasta, creating a simple and irresistibly delicious meal.
This dish delivers bold flavors with minimal effort, perfect for a weeknight dinner or a casual gathering with friends. With its tubular shape and ridged exterior, the rigatoni is ideal for holding onto the savory sausage sauce, ensuring every bite is flavorful. Fresh mozzarella adds a creamy, melty element that contrasts beautifully with the hearty sausage. Add a handful of fresh basil or a sprinkle of Parmesan, and you have a dish that feels straight from an Italian kitchen.
In this post, I’ll guide you through each recipe step, providing tips on selecting the best ingredients and ensuring the perfect texture for your pasta. Whether a beginner or a seasoned cook, this Rigatoni with Sausage and Fresh Mozzarella will quickly become a favorite in your dinner rotation.
Sausage
We used some leftover sausage that I pan-roasted in our wood-burning oven, but you could use fresh sausage, too. If I had not cooked the sausage, I would have used fresh but removed it from the casing and browned it up a bit.
Brown Stock
Brown stock, also called Glace de Viande, combines beef and veal stock that professional chefs use for making soups, stews, and sauces. It’s one of the first things culinary students learn to make in culinary school.
I always have a commercial brown stock reduction called Glace de Viande Gold that comes in a highly concentrated reduction. I used approximately 1/2 ounce of this product with 1/2 cup of pasta water, but you could use homemade or commercial beef stock or even chicken stock if that’s all you have in your pantry.
Mezzi Rigatoni
Mezzi means half-sized, so mezzi rigatoni is a half-sized rigatoni pasta. Rigatoni, one of Italy’s most popular forms of pasta, is a tube-shaped pasta, larger than penne but without the angled cut on the ends. The translation for Riga is lined, and rigati is translated as ridged, so you can say rigatoni is lined with ridges.
My 11-year-old daughter enjoyed this dish so much that she returned for a fourth helping. It was simple to prepare with ingredients we already had on hand. I encourage you to look in your refrigerator, see what’s left over, and make your quick pasta sauce.
Pasta with Sausage and Fresh Mozzarella Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ pound mezzi rigatoni or hearty pasta shape of your choice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 1 large shallot or 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 link Italian sweet sausage see note above
- 10 kalamata olives pitted
- ½ large egg fresh mozzarella
- salt & pepper to taste
- ½ cup brown stock
Instructions
- Start by heating a pot of salted water for the pasta. Be sure to check out my pasta cooking tips. Add the pasta and cook until al dente when the water is at a boil.
- Get all your ingredients ready. This is called mise en place. Start by finely chopping the shallot or onion, mincing the garlic, slicing the sausage and slicing the kalamata olives. Cut the fresh mozzarella into small pieces.
- Heat a small saucepan, and when hot, add the olive oil. When the olive oil is hot but not smoking, add the shallot and cook on medium-high heat for a few minutes.
- Add the garlic, being careful not to let it burn. I will shake the pan or use a wooden spoon to prevent this. I let that cook for about a minute and then added the cooked sausage and kalamata olives.
- I let this cook for a minute or two and then add the beef or brown stock. Let this reduce by about half. I also like to add a little of the water the pasta is cooking in because it has some starch in it from the pasta. It doesn't take much--maybe ¼ to ½ cup.
- This starch, combined with the cheese and olive oil, will help form an emulsion to thicken the sauce and help make sure that the sauce sticks to the pasta. Taste the sauce, and season with salt and pepper.
- When the pasta is perfectly cooked "to the tooth," drain it and add it to a serving bowl.
- Add the cut-up mozzarella cheese and then the sauce. The heat from the pasta and the sauce should melt the fresh mozzarella.
- Serve immediately in warmed bowls.
