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farfalle with sausage, tomatoes and cream

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This sauce coats the bow ties to perfection. Ideally, if you can find it, the classic Milanese or Monza pork sausage, luganega, will be ideal here

for the sauce:

four tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
two cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
one pound Luganega or other sweet Italian pork sausage, removed from the casing and chopped roughly
one cup chopped onion
one-half teaspoon red pepper flakes
one 28-ounce can of peeled, imported Italian plum tomatoes, without juice
one-half cup heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper
two tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
one half cup freshly grated pecorino Romano or parmesan

for the pasta:

one pound of farfalle

Put two tablespoons of olive oil into a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the sausage, turn the heat to medium high, and cook until starting to brown. Break up the lumps with a wooden spoon while cooking. Takes about five minutes. Set aside.

Heat two more tablespoons of olive oil in the same pan. Add the garlic and onions. Add the red pepper flakes. Cook two minutes, when the onion should be tender.

Add the tomatoes and cream and simmer until the sauce thickens, about five minutes. Add a teaspoon of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Return the sausage to the pan, stir, and cook another two minutes, until all the flavors are intermingled.

Meanwhile bring 4-5 quarts of water to a boil. Add two tablespoons of salt. Drop in the pasta and stir. Continue cooking until al dente. Drain and reserve one cup of the liquid.

Return the saute pan to heat. Add the drained pasta. Combine with the sauce over a medium heat. Add the parsley. Stir. Add a half cup of the reserved liquid (or more) if the pasta is dry. If not dry, do not add. Taste for salt and pepper and serve with the freshly grated pecorino or parmesan.