Out of habit, I make a lot of pasta.  I have made hundreds of variations of this dish, with some sort of ground meat or sausage, some variation on vegetables, and sauce.  Come to think of it, I could pretty easily write an entire cookbook full of them, changing the ingredients to accommodate the changes in season and mood.  This particular version, however, was special.  In my world, no dish exists that is more delicious and comfortable.  It has a few really fresh and high quality ingredients, none of which are expensive, and it could satisfy even the most insatiable crowd.

I would serve this to my friends on a Tuesday night, but I would not be ashamed to serve it to my mother on a Sunday. I never really feel the need to serve it with any accompanying side dishes because it is packed with veggies and served over spaghetti, and there is nothing that brings people together better than a family sized bowl of pasta in the middle of the dinner table. I also love to entertain with a dish like this because it only takes about 40 minutes to prepare and there are plenty of things for guests to help chop.

One thing that makes this particular pasta unique is the flavor the sauce gets from the vodka.  If you have never tried a vodka sauce before, it is awesome.  The flavor is more subtle than you would think, but it is sharper and cleaner than the flavor you get from using wine.  I was first turned on to the idea of using vodka when I had the linguini arabiata at a great little place in East Bay Area in California called La Piazza.  This family oriented Italian restaurant has an open kitchen with a few  bar stools to watch the action, so I was able to pick up some ideas for recreating this dish myself.  The nice thing about preparing it at home was that I could use whatever vegetables and meat I chose, and I was able to substitute the heavy cream for the yummy sheep’s milk feta, an option I felt a little better about.

View the recipe below as a cooking method rather than specific dish, although these ingredients do work together quite harmoniously.  I often search the fridge, inventory the fresh produce and protein on hand, and piece together a meal spontaneously.  So if you happen to have kale instead of spinach or chicken sausages rather than ground pork, you can absolutely make this happen.  My last bit of advice on this dish is to make twice as much as you think you will need for that night…it’s even better left over.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 large yellow onion, julienned
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced, with 3 tablespoons of the fronds chopped and reserved for garnish
• 1 large bunch of fresh spinach, cleaned and roughly chopped
• 12 oz. of feta cheese (I used sheep’s milk feta)
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 large can of San Marzano tomatoes
• 1 large can of tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup of pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 package of spaghetti (I used whole wheat), cooked al dente
• Salt and red pepper flakes to taste

Heat the olive oil in large, deep skillet over medium heat.  Add the onions and fennel and cook until they begin to become translucent.  Add the garlic, pine nuts,  and red pepper flakes.  Season the pork with salt and pepper and add to the pan, allowing the meat to brown before you turn it.  When the second side is cooking, break the pork into bite site bits with the back of a wooden spoon.

When the pork is browned on both sides, add the vodka and allow the alcohol to cook off for about five minutes.  Add the tomatoes and the tomato sauce and reduce the heat to low.  Stir in the chopped spinach. Break up the feta over the sauce and slowly stir it in to the sauce.  Stir in the reserved fennel fronds.  Add the cooked spaghetti to the skillet, and toss well all together.  Serves four with leftovers!

Ragu or Ragout has long standing tradition in both Italian and French cuisine – though the term actually means different things in each culture.  Italians have their regional Ragus; which for the most part imply a sauce including meats.  Different yet similar varieties hail from the north and Bologna (Ragu Bolognese) and from the south and Naples (Ragu Neopolitan).  Both usually include some combination of Mirepoix or Soffritto in Italian alongside pork and beef for meats.  The regions differ in the amount of tomato used and the way they cut their meat, but that’s a story for another day.

The French also use the term ‘Ragout‘, from the verb ragoûter, meaning ‘to revive the taste‘.  Their take on ragout however does not necessarily include meat and is a much more generalized term to describe a sauce or stew.

So on Monday, I came home from work with an abundance of awesome looking mushrooms picked up at our local farmer’s market.  My girlfriend Aimee and I decided to set out to make an ‘almost vegetarian’ variety of the popular ‘Ragu’ sauce – Mushroom Ragout with Swiss Chard.  We do want to credit this recipe to the amazing Alice Waters, whose book “The Art of Simple Food” has been picked over by me of late.  This is essentially her recipe with a few changes.

This version of Ragu is hearty but with subtle flavors.  There’s no kick of heat from chilies or overwhelming garlic flavor.  Perhaps it’s greatest asset is the heavy flavor of mushrooms, whose flavor are subtle and delicate by themselves.  As I mentioned, the sauce how we prepared it is ‘almost’ vegetarian – only supplemented with some Panceta cooked alongside the Swiss Chard.  The heartiness of the different types of mushrooms and other vegetables definitely make up for any lack of meat.

We were actually thinking about adding some protein and the first thing that came to mind was some Scallops, as we thought the subtleness of their flavor would go well with the rest of the ingredients.  Add scollops or shrimp if you want – cook them seperately and them add them in the end with the swiss chard (chicken would also be good).

Here’s what we did:

Ingredients:

• 2 Carrots – Peeled and cut into small cubes
• 2-3 stalks Celery – cut into small cubes
• 1 medium Onion – Diced
• 2 cloves Garlic – Fine dice
• 2 Tomatoes – Diced (or 1 small can of diced tomatoes – drained)
• 2 total pounds Mushrooms in 3 varieties (10 or so of each variety) – I used Shitake (10 – stems removed), Trumpet (5-6 these are huge – halved) and Mitake (2 medium clusters – rough chop)
• 4-5 thin slices Pancetta – chopped
• 1 small bunch (15-20 leaves) Swiss Chard – Stems removed and roughly chopped
• Leaves from about 10 Thyme sprigs
• 1 Bay Leaf

• 1/4 cup Parsley – Diced
• 1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock (Homeade preferred!)
• 3/4 cup Light Cream
• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 4-5 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

Please note that this should be done in two separate pans at the same time!!!

Start by starting a pot of boiling water for the pasta if wanted.  This sauce would also be delicious over a steak, but half or quarter the recipe if doing so.

PAN 1:  In a heavy bottomed pan, heat half of the butter and oil over medium heat.  Start the Mirepoix (carrots, onion and celery) and cook until the vegetables become soft but do not brown! (Adjust the heat as necessary).

About 10 minutes.  Add in the Thyme, Parsley and Bay Leaf.  Lower the heat to low and cook for another 5-10 minutes.  Add in the tomatoes and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.

PAN 2:  In a “stick” pan, heat the rest of the butter and oil (add more as needed) and add a third of the mushrooms by variety (cook each variety seperately), browning each and removing them before adding in the next.  You should cook them basically whole or halfed.  Once all of the mushrooms are cooked, let them rest for 1-2 minutes and then chop them to the size of the rest of the vegetables.

Once the mushrooms are done, add just a touch more oil to the pan and immediately add the Pancetta and cook for a minute or two and then add the Swiss Chard.  Let the chard wilt for a few minutes and then remove from the heat.

Combining: Add the mushrooms, chard and pancetta back into the pan with the Mirepoix and combine.  Add in the stock and cream and cook, covered, for about 15 minutes, adding more stock and cream if the liquid gets too thick or cooks off.

Serve with whole wheat linguine or the pasta of your choice. Enjoy!

Makes a big batch – 6 or so pasta servings.  8 if using with meat.