Forty-five minutes, and the sauce itself takes four of them. Broth and cream go into the pan the sausage browned in, simmer briefly, and are finished with Parmesan and spinach — no long reduction anywhere.
That speed is why the reserved pasta water matters. A short sauce has not had time to thicken on its own, and a ladle of starchy water is what brings it to the consistency wide egg ribbons need.
Why This Recipe Works
- Browning the sausage into crumbles and draining the fat leaves the flavour without a greasy sauce.
- Sun-dried tomatoes cooked with the garlic for a minute soften and release their oil into the pan.
- Parmesan melted into the cream thickens the sauce as much as it seasons it.
- Four cups of spinach wilt down to almost nothing, which is why the quantity looks excessive raw.
Ingredient Notes
- Pappardelle or wide egg noodles
- Twelve ounces. Wide ribbons are what the finished dish shows, and what the clinging sauce is built for.
- Italian sausage
- A pound, casings removed, browned into crumbles and drained. Cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Reserved pasta water
- A cup, kept back at step 1. It is added as needed in step 5 and is the reason the sauce clings.
How to Make It
Cook the pasta, keep the water
Cook pasta in salted water until al dente; reserve 1 cup pasta water.
Brown the sausage
Brown sausage in oil over medium-high heat, breaking it into crumbles; drain excess fat.
Build the sauce
Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes for 1 minute. Pour in broth and cream and simmer 4 minutes.
Parmesan and spinach
Stir in Parmesan and spinach until the sauce is creamy and spinach wilts.
Toss together
Toss with pasta, adding reserved pasta water as needed; finish with black pepper and red pepper flakes.
The Pot and the Skillet
Two pans run at once and neither waits for the other. What connects them is a cup of water that most cooks pour down the sink.
In the pasta pot
- First
12 oz of pappardelle or wide egg noodles in salted water, cooked to al dente.
- Before draining
One cup of the cooking water reserved. This is the track's only lasting output besides the pasta itself, and step 5 depends on it.
In the skillet
- Medium-high heat
1 lb of Italian sausage, casings removed, browned into crumbles to 160F, then the excess fat drained off.
- 1 minute
3 minced garlic cloves and 1/2 cup of chopped sun-dried tomatoes, softening in what is left in the pan.
- 4 minutes
1 cup chicken broth and 1 cup heavy cream, simmered briefly - a short sauce by design.
- Off the simmer
3/4 cup Parmesan and 4 cups of baby spinach stirred through until creamy and wilted.
The pasta water is the join
Drained pasta tossed into the skillet with the reserved water added a splash at a time. A four-minute sauce has not thickened on its own; the starch in that water is what makes it coat wide ribbons rather than pool beneath them.
Success Tips
- Reserve the pasta water before you drain — it is the easiest step in the recipe to forget and the hardest to replace.
- Break the sausage up properly as it browns; large lumps do not distribute through ribbons.
- Add the pasta water a splash at a time. You may not need all of it.
Serving Ideas
Six servings in white bowls, the wide ribbons coated in cream sauce with the sausage crumbles, spinach and sun-dried tomato visible, finished with black pepper and chilli flakes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really need the pasta water?
Yes. The sauce only simmers for four minutes, so the starch in that water is what brings it to a clinging consistency.
Four cups of spinach seems like a lot.
It wilts down to very little. That is the quantity the recipe calls for.
How done should the sausage be?
160 degrees Fahrenheit, as for any ground meat.
