I wouldn’t call myself a Tradwife by any measure. I don’t have children, and I do my husband’s laundry only in desperate situations. Mopping? That’s his problem.
However, I do nearly all of the cooking for our two-person household. Because I’m a restaurant critic and food writer, we eat out at least a few times a week, but I also get a great deal of pleasure from the rote preparation of my favorite recipes, as well as from creating new ones.
There’s one notable exception: Years before I met him, my husband started making a simple bachelor dinner of prepared tomato sauce and sweet Italian sausage served over rigatoni. It didn’t have a name until we met at the height of the pandemic. Together, we named the dish “Meaty, Meaty.”
While I try to eat healthfully when I’m not dining for a review, he resists my overtures of tofu and grilled eggplant. “I feel like something more meaty, meaty,” he said on one occasion. There was Italian sausage in the refrigerator. I asked him to make his signature pasta dish instead, and on that night, Meaty, Meaty was born.
Simply Recipes / Shilpa Iyer
Key Ingredients
Over the years, this dish has evolved. In its original form, my husband would use whatever ingredients were cheapest. Now, we use what tastes best. Only Rao’s Homemade sauces will do, particularly the roasted garlic flavor. The sausage is always Premio, which sells a combo pack of fennel-redolent Italian sausage links that are half sweet and half hot, ideal for a hint of pleasant burn.
The pasta is where we vary things the most. Though Barilla rigatoni was always my husband’s go-to, I’ve convinced him to stretch beyond the one pasta shape. In fact, one of our favorite Meaty, Meaty renditions ever was made with chocolate-flavored fettuccine, which gave it a rich complexity beyond our expectations.
I say “we” because I sometimes help him on Meaty, Meaty nights. The chocolate pasta was my influence, as was the heart-shaped one, consumed months after Valentine’s Day. I’m also not above chopping garlic for the garlic bread that he makes to accompany the pasta.
But the point of Meaty, Meaty is that it’s my husband’s specialty. No one makes it better, food writer or not. When it comes to the soul of the dish, it somehow requires my husband’s touch to make it perfect. That, and I could use a night off from cooking.
Simply Recipes / Shilpa Iyer
How To Make My Husband’s 3-Ingredient Meaty, Meaty Pasta
1 pound Italian sausage links (hot, sweet, or a combination)
1 (24-ounce) jar tomato sauce
Salt, for the pasta water
1 pound pasta, such as rigatoni
Grated Asiago cheese, for serving, optional
Remove the casings from the sausages and discard. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and use a wooden spoon to break the meat into tiny chunks. Cook, stirring and continuing to break up the meat, until uniformly crushed and browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the tomato sauce. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is tender and the flavors have melded, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the pasta until al dente according to the package directions, then drain. Portion the pasta into serving bowls or plates and spoon the Meaty, Meaty sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle with Asiago cheese, if using, and serve.
Simply Recipes / Shilpa Iyer
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Dining and Cooking