Pasta with Chorizo Sauce

This dish is similar to any meat sauce but has the added spice and flavor of chorizo. Most recipes add red pepper flakes into their sauce for a kick. Spice is a great tool, and when when used properly, causes a reaction that enhances any dish. This sauce is great for using up leftover chorizo too - if you cooked up some for one night and don’t know what to do, this is perfect. Just make sure if you’re using cooked chorizo, don’t throw that on the hot pan, mix it in after the tomatoes.

Before you begin, a few things to note:

• If your chorizo has a casing, be sure to remove it and mash the chorizo in the pan to achieve that ground meat texture.

• Dried spices are perfectly fine here (Dried vs fresh herbs)

• Season your sauce with salt at the END. If you add it at the beginning as your sauce cooks down, the ratio of salt/liquid will shrink and it will become saltier as it simmers.

Use any pasta you would like for this dish. I used spaghetti as I had it on hand, but a hollow shape like rigatoni or penne would be ideal to catch the sauce.

Spaghetti with chorizo sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of spaghetti

• 1 lb chorizo

• 1 can San Marzano tomatoes

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1/2 cup cream

• 1 cup parmesan cheese

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 diced onion

• 1 tablespoon dried basil

• 1 tablespoon dried oregano

• Oil for the pan

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Sliced green onion for garnish

Instructions

1. Heat your pan to medium and add oil. Once its up to temperature, add chorizo

2. Once the chorizo has browned, add onion, sauté for a bit and then add garlic until fragrant. (There should be a fond on the bottom of the pan, if the water from the onion wasn’t enough to pull it up, add some water to prevent burning)

3. Add in tomato paste and stir, follow this with the San Marzano tomatoes

4. While that is cooking, put a pot of water on to boil for your pasta and salt it like the sea

5. Moving back to your sauce, add basil and oregano, drop the heat to medium low and let sauce simmer

6. Once your water is boiling, add in pasta and cook per package instructions

7. About a minute before your pasta is done, add the shredded cheese and cream to your sauce and stir

8. Strain pasta

9. Once your sauce has been seasoned to taste with salt and pepper, add pasta to the sauce by small tong fulls until it as at the desired ratio, mix and serve.

In all honesty, the pasta can be made in advance if you do not want to bother with 2 pots at once. Even if it sits and gets stuck together once it is added to the sauce the moisture will bring it back to normal.