Sourdough pasta with sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, and broccolini.
Alternative pasta I can jam with.
Heyo!!!
Did you know that I’m a hater? It’s true.
Unfortunately, my default setting is, “Look at this asshole.” I mean I write people off instantly. I’m almost always proven wrong, of course. Whenever I think somebody is selfish, annoying, network-y, or inconsiderate, most of the time it’s just because I haven’t gotten to know this person. I hate that I’m like this, but it’s how I go about life—everyone and everything is out to get me. Anyway, you can imagine the murderous thoughts I had about Bionaturae sourdough pasta before actually trying it.
I’m just not a fan of alternative pastas. Banza chickpea pasta sucks, Tolerant’s red lentil fusilli is garbage, and any quinoa spaghetti generally tastes like ass.
But sourdough pasta is on the come up. It’s appearing on more Tik Toks, more store shelves, and more menus. At Mad Nice, a restaurant that sounds like a 90’s Nickelodeon show about assholes, I ordered their sourdough pasta and actually really liked it. A restaurant I hate did something good—I’ll never recover.
Regretfully, it was at Mad Nice where I discovered just what makes sourdough pasta so good. Sourdough pasta works because it has great flavor. Full stop. Never mind the purported health benefits (more on that later), this alternative pasta is tangy, funky, and packs more flavor than just about everything else on store shelves. If you’re a freak like me and love things that wallop you with acid and tang, you’ll love sourdough pasta. Pair it with lemon, and saliva will literally bathe your taste buds. The mouth-smacking qualities of a citrus, olive oil, and sourdough pasta is off the charts.
I don’t work with brands, however, when a company wants to send me an interesting product, I try hard to get over myself and say yes. Read: I am not in the pocket of Bionaturae. They are not paying me, and I did not agree to write anything at all about their product launch. However, I was pleasantly surprised with what I tasted.
Bionaturae advertises their product as “nutrient-rich” and “gut-friendly,” so it sounds like sourdough pasta fits into some sort of health fad. Per a press release, “This flavorful pasta cooks perfectly and is made with only the best ingredients like tangy Italian sourdough starter, is free of preservatives, made with 100% clean ingredients, and has only six grams of net carbs. Certified organic, non-GMO, and glyphosate-free.”
Is it actually healthy? I simply don’t care. What I do know—eating sourdough pasta made me feel pretty damn good afterwards. I was full, but not tired like I just inhaled a plate full of ravioli disks. It was refreshing to eat pasta and feel alert afterwards. This is low-carb pasta I can get down with, and that’s mostly because of the flavor. If you see sourdough pasta on store shelves, which I think you’re going to more and more, it’s worth picking up. Here’s an awesome recipe with spicy Calabrian chili sausage, broccolini, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and lemon.
Some notes:
I miss sun-dried tomatoes. They remind me of my adolescent days working in Italian-American kitchens. Back in the early 00’s, sun-dried tomatoes were much more common in pasta. They add lovely sweetness, brightness, and tartness. I picked up these guys from Whole Foods, which conveniently come packed in extra virgin olive oil. Use the whole jar, and then use the oil, too.
Marrow in Detroit sells an awesome Calabrian chili sausage, but any spicy Italian sausage will do. The fat rendered from the sausage really coated the pasta well. You need good fat to go along with sourdough pasta. It plays well with the funky flavor.
Some white wine or chicken stock will certainly enhance the flavor here, but I don’t find it to be necessary. Honestly, having a recipe without white wine or chicken broth is always a great move. You can achieve great sauce through pasta water, oil, lemon juice, and sausage fat.
Sourdough pasta with spicy sausage, baby broccoli, and sun-dried tomatoes.
1 lb. sourdough pasta, such as fusilli
1 lb. spicy Italian sausage
5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
2 bunches baby broccoli
1 8 oz. jar of Seggiano sun-dried tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon
1/4 cup of good olive oil
2 ounces Pecorino Romano, such as Genuine Fulvi
Step 1
Cook the baby broccoli. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the broccolini to the pot, and cook for 3 minutes. Use a pair of tongs to remove the broccoli from the water, and place it in an ice bath. This can be done a day in advance.
Step 2
Bring a new pot of salted water to a boil, or, if you cooked the broccoli day of, use the same pot again. Cook the sourdough pasta according to package instructions until al dente. The Bionaturae package says 9 minutes, but I found 7-8 to be fine. The pasta will cook more in the dutch oven, so don’t worry too much if it’s undercooked. Important: Reserve 1 cup pasta water before draining the pasta.
Step 3
In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Remove the sausage from its casing and cook, breaking up the sausage with a wooden spoon or metal spatula, until browned, which should take 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
Next, rough chop the cooked baby broccoli, and slice the sun-dried tomatoes into slivered chunks. Add both the broccoli and tomatoes to the dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in the olive oil from the sun-dried tomato jar, too. Stir and mix thoroughly.
Step 4
Drain the pasta, and add it to the Dutch oven. Season with salt and pepper. Add the pasta water, and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon. Stir and mix while cooking everything for up to 3 minutes. Take the dutch oven off the heat, and generously grate 2 ounces of Pecorino Romano.
Note: I never weigh or measure grated cheese. 2 ounces is a considerable pile. Grate a considerable pile of cheese onto the pasta. Mix the cheese into the pasta, then serve.
Thanks for reading The Move! I hope everyone has a good Father’s Day. I’ll be going home to good ol’ New Castle Pennsylvania to prepare a Dad’s feast. This motherfucker wants oysters for every holiday, so I’ll be wrecking my hands this weekend hoping to receive some long lost parental love.
Ciao!
Hater solidarity ♥️
This pasta looks dope! For what it’s worth, here’s my homemade sourdough pasta recipe: https://cowwedoin.substack.com/p/on-wonder-mushroom-pasta?utm_source=publication-search