Ryan’s Sunday Sauce with Bucatini Noodles
Apparently I am the sister that loves noodles and posting pasta recipes on Fridays. (For anyone that has spent time with Mallory and I, do not try and act too surprised!) Because here I am posting another pasta recipe on a Friday: Ryan’s Sunday Sauce with Bucatini Noodles. And if you haven’t yet had the opportunity, you should really check out our other Friday pasta posts for Salami Ragu and Mack’s Roasted Tomato Sauce. Have I inadvertently made pasta recipes on Fridays a thing?
If we were forced to pick a favorite noodle in our house it would be bucatini. Bucatini is a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center. We are in total agreement with this article that calls bucatini “the greatest long pasta there ever was or will be that . . . [Its] hollow center is what makes bucatini so fantastic. Where other long pastas just get coated with sauce, bucatini gets coated and filled with sauce. It’s the ultimate delivery vehicle for velvety pasta sauces.” And while we’re pretty obsessed with bucatini noodles, Ryan’s Sunday Sauce is every bit as delicious with spaghetti, linguine, or even rigatoni.
Ryan’s Sunday Sauce recipe is truly amazing and one that he created in honor of our love for bucatini. We have been making it in our household on Sunday evenings for the last several years because who typically has the time to roast tomato sauce on a regular weeknight?!?! But one of the few good things about COVID is that Ryan working from home means dinner can get started a whole lot earlier than it used to during the work week. This recipe is the epitome of comfort food and great way to bring the weekend (or in a case of COVID, a Wednesday) to a close. Enjoy!
Ryan’s Sunday Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 garlic cloves
- one medium sized onion, diced
- 1 pound mild Italian ground sausage
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1-28 oz. can San Marzano-style whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 tsp anchovy paste (we love using anchovy paste in place of real anchovies, but for those braver than us, 2 anchovy filets packed in oil can be used here)
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
- 12 oz. bucatini or spaghetti noodles
- Shredded Parmesan cheese for serving
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Peel and crush 8 garlic cloves with the flat side of a chef’s knife.
- Cut 1/4 cup butter into small pieces (about 1/2 inch cubes).
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large oven proof skillet on the stove and then add diced onion.
- Saute onion for about 2 minutes over medium-high heat then add ground sausage. Saute onion and ground sausage together until sausage is cooked through and beginning to brown.
- Remove skillet from heat and add whole can of tomatoes (do not drain) crushing tomatoes lightly with your hands. Watch out for lying tomato juices!
- Scatter garlic, butter pieces, anchovy paste, and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes over tomatoes, onion and sausage. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Roast tomatoes in the oven, stirring halfway through, until garlic is very soft and mixture is thick and jammy, 35 to 40 minutes.
- While tomatoes are roasting, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a small fistful of salt.
- Remove skillet from oven and let sauce cool slightly. Using a potato masher, pastry cutter, or fork, break up garlic and tomatoes until mixture looks like coarse applesauce.
- Cook your bucatini (or spaghetti) noodles according to package instructions in your boiling pasta water until al dente. Toward end of cook time, use a heatproof measuring cup to scoop out and reserve 1 cup pasta water. Drain pasta in a colander and return noodles to pot.
- Add tomato sauce and reserved pasta water (adding just a little water at a time until sauce just coats the noodles) to the pot with the noodles. Cook over medium-high heat, tossing with tongs, until sauce coats pasta, about 2 minutes.
- Serve topped with Parmesan.
Ryan created this recipe loosely based on Epicurious’ Bucatini with Butter-Roasted Tomato Sauce linked here.
Please let us know if you try Ryan’s Sunday Sauce by taking a picture and tagging us on Instagram using @letswineaboutitsister.
