Mom's Sausage N’ Rapini Mac N’ Cheesy
Caitlin Cutler

As featured on Recipe Club's Dinner for Six episode

Serves 6

1 lb cavatappi
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb spicy italian sausage
1 bunch rapini, roughly chopped
⅓ C white wine
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt

1. Bring 6 qts of water to a boil in a pot. Salt generously. Add cavatappi to the pot and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until slightly al dente. Set aside.

2. In a large saute pan on medium/high heat, add olive oil and brown spicy italian sausage for roughly 12-15 min. Stir occasionally and break sausage into small pieces to ensure lots of browned edges. Remove sausage from pan and set aside.

3. Add rapini to the pan with sausage oil. Add white wine and cook until rapini is tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes.

4. Stir pasta into cheesy bechamel sauce until all noodles are coated. Add sausage and rapini and mix until well distributed.

5. Pour noodle mixture into a Pyrex dish (9" x 13"). Sprinkle with breadcrumb mix. 

6. Bake in the oven at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly. Take out the dish and let it cool for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Cheesy Bechamel Sauce
¼ C unsalted butter
¼ C all-purpose flour
2 C whole milk
1 clove minced garlic
¼ tsp fresh nutmeg, grated (optional)
1 ½ cups Alpine cheese, grated
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Fine sea or table salt
Ground black pepper

1. Melt butter in the bottom of a medium-to-large saucepan over medium heat. 

2. Once melted, add flour and stir it into the butter until smooth. Cook the mixture together for a minute, stirring constantly. 

3. Pour in a small drizzle of milk, whisking constantly into the butter-flour mixture until smooth. Continue to drizzle a small amount at a time, whisking constantly. Once slightly over half of the milk is added and the sauce has thickened, start adding the milk in larger splashes while continuing to mix. 

4. Once all of the milk is added, add the salt, garlic, nutmeg (if using) and a few grinds of black pepper. Bring the mixture to a lower simmer and cook it, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.

5. Add cheese and stir until fully melted. Mix in red pepper flakes to the sauce. 

Breadcrumb Mix
1 C panko breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
¼ C parsley, chopped

1. In a pan over medium heat, warm olive oil and butter. 

2. Add panko breadcrumbs to the pan and toast until golden. Add chopped parsley and mix into breadcrumbs. 

3. Set aside to let cool.