A year ago, I wouldn’t have called myself a big fan of pasta. It wasn’t something in our regular dinner rotation, and I’ve never been keen on tomatoey red sauce. Visiting Italy changed that for me. There were so many varieties of pasta that were so simplified, and subtly saucy and extra al dente. This is my favorite kind of pasta. I wanted to create a pasta with tons of supporting ingredients (broccoli, sausage, lemon) and a silky barely-there sauce that coats the almost chewy pasta, and you wonder how pasta could ever taste so good. This rigatoni with broccoli, lemon, and sausage is just that. Among other things, it includes crushed fennel seed, thinly sliced garlic, and just a splash of cream to make the sauce extra silky.
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