That’s why on a scale of ten to one, friend, there ain’t no tens.

I’m way behind on posting here. I have been cooking and photographing, but I find it difficult to work, cook, eat, and post all in the same day. I’ve got a backlog to catch up on, but thanks to a series of random coincidences, my detached retina from the week before Christmas means I have today and Tuesday off without anything I have to do¹. The plan is to catch up on posting what I’ve cooked over the past week or so along with anything I cook between now and then.

I found the base recipe² I worked from on the Butter & Baggage website while looking for a way to incorporate the buckwheat rotini I had purchased into a hearty pasta casserole.

Print Recipe

Featured Recipes

Baked buckwheat rotini w/ vodka sauce and sausage

Author: John R Cooking Method: Baking, Sauteeing Cuisine: Italian Courses: Main Course Recipe Keys: I Italian sausage P pasta V vodka

Difficulty: Intermediate Cook Time 105 mins

Servings: 12

Dietary:

G gluten-friendly

Ingredients

Scale

1/2x 1x 2x 3x

• 5 tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 1 lb hot Italian sausage (crumbled)
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausages (sliced thinly)
• 2 large yellow onions (sliced thinly)
• 1 package fresh basil (chiffonade cut)
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• ¹⁄₂ cup vodka
• 28 oz canned San Marzano DOP tomatoes (I used La Valle brand)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• ¹⁄₄ tsp ancho chile powder
• 17 oz buckwheat rotini (I used Big Green Organic brand)
• ¹⁄₂ cup heavy whipping cream
• 15 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
• 8 oz burrata cheese (2 balls)

Instructions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to a large Dutch oven on the stovetop over high heat. Add crumbled hot Italian sausage and sweet Italian sausage slices and cook until browned, 5-7 minutes. Add onions, salt and pepper to taste, then cook until onions have softened, 4-6 minutes. Add basil chiffonade and minced garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Reduce stovetop burner to medium-low. Add vodka and San Marzano tomatoes (crushing by hand into pot or using a potato masher to get varying consistency), then bring to an uncovered simmer for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. While sauce is simmering, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Fill a good-sized pot with water, adding salt and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, then let come to a boil. Add buckwheat rotini and cook 1-2 minutes fewer than package directions in order to achieve al dente pasta, then drain. 

3. Add thyme, ancho chile powder, and heavy cream to simmering sauce, stirring to combine. Allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes.

4. Place half of the ricotta cheese, half of the parmesan cheese, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium-sized bowl. Add the drained pasta and toss to combine and coat.

5. Add the simmered vodka sausage sauce to the bottom of a 9″x13″ baking dish. Add the coated pasta and stir to mix well. Add the leftover ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese and mix well. Slice the balls of burrata cheese and place on top of the casserole, then move it into the preheated oven. Bake until casserole is bubbly and golden, 40-50 minutes.

Note

If less spice is desired, substitute hot Italian sausage for crumbled sweet Italian sausage. Additionally, omit the ancho chili powder. 

Keywords: casserole, cheesy

Rate this recipe:

I was eager to see if the San Marzano DOP tomatoes I purchased were really as big of a deal as everyone said they were. However, I didn’t want to go with a straight marinara sauce because that can be too acidic, so the vodka and cream in this recipe were appealing.

Thoughts:

1) This is quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever cooked in my life.

2) I was disappointed in the final product.

3) The panel of judges was unanimous that this was the best thing I’ve cooked since I started this journey.

4) Almost a week later, we’re still eating on the leftovers. That tells me that this recipe is easily 2-3 meals worth of food, and that it must be good if we keep eating it.

Verdict:

Taste (overall dish): 8.5/10. I’ve eaten a lot of good food in my life, but the vast majority of it was cooked by other people. There are very few things that I’ve cooked that I’d be proud to take to anyone’s potluck, but this is one of them.
Taste (pink vodka sauce): 10.5/10. Hence, the disappointment. That sauce is one of the best things I have EVER put into my mouth. I don’t have a solid comparison for it, but the canned DOP tomatoes are absolutely worth the extra effort and expense. It’s just a letdown that the casserole was less than the sum of its parts.
Accessibility: 6.5/10. Keeping these tomatoes in the pantry will be easy enough thanks to Amazon. I won’t normally have two types of Italian sausage, fresh basil, or heavy whipping cream at the ready without making a special trip to the store.
Story: 9/10. I had never crushed tomatoes into a pot by hand (and the huge mess I made while doing so makes me rethink doing it again – I think pouring the contents of the can into a bowl and going at it with a potato masher is the wiser alternative). I’m also going to be dreaming about this sauce for a long time, and finding new ways to spin it (moussa-kinda³, anyone?!)

Administrivia:

I finally figured out how to do a few things with this damned site. It’s still a huge work in progress, but I now know how to associate a picture to a recipe, at least.

I have some sort of vision for what I want this site to be aesthetically, but I don’t know how to get there yet, and I’m too damned impatient for my own good. I may need some professional guidance to kickstart me in the right direction.

1. The plan was to go down to visit Michelle’s family for a week spanning Christmas. However, after having my eye surgically repaired, I was not allowed to lift anything more than about 10 lbs. for a few days, which means I couldn’t wrangle suitcases. After consultation, we decided it would be best for us to head down around MLK Day, so I scheduled a couple days off around this weekend. Then the Polar Vortex decided to impose itself on our plans, and the near-certainty of Ice Capades happening on Texas roads when we were planning to head back made it prudent to postpone again. ↩︎
2. https://www.butterandbaggage.com/baked-pasta-alla-vodka/
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3. I will be making this at some point. Not exactly sure how far I’m going to fuse the recipes, but this is a preview of an upcoming attraction. ↩︎