Creamy stracciatella, crumbled Italian sausage, shredded and caramelized slow-cooked onions and fennel – all lovingly mixed into al dente pasta. Give it to me now.
This is one of my all-time favorite pasta dishes. It’ll take you some time to make, but it is SO worth it.
If you aren’t familiar with stracciatella, it’s the inside of a burrata ball (mozzarella curds mixed with cream). If mixing stracciatella into pasta isn’t enticing enough, add sausage to it and then slow cook onions and fennel until they melt into each other into what I can only describe as “heaven.”
Warning: this pasta will provide you with complete and utter satisfaction, ecstasy and joy.
My STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO below will help guide you through the recipe. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for recipe videos every week!
Makes: 2 huge portions, or 4 smaller ones
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
The Ingredients
1 pound bucatini pasta (or sub spaghetti!)
1 pound Italian sausage meat out of the casing (I like ½ pound sweet and a ½ pound spicy)
8 ounces burrata cheese (stracciatella is the inside of a burrata ball)
2 large yellow onions, cut into strips
2 large fennel bulbs, dark green parts remove and cut into ½ inch strips
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
Parmigiano reggiano or regular parmesan, to garnish
Fresh parsley, to garnish
Salt & pepper
The Steps
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add fennel, drizzled with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake on the lower rack of the oven for 15 minutes.
In a large pot, add butter, onion, and fennel with residual olive oil from baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Over medium-low heat, cover and sauté onions and fennel for 35-40 minutes until onions and fennel melt together, shred, and the onions start to caramelize. Stir every 5 minutes.
While onions and fennel are cooking, add sausage meat out of the casing to another pot (no oil needed). Crumble up sausage into small bite-sized pieces as it cooks. When sausage pinkness is gone, sausage is cooked. Set aside.
Boil pasta. Pasta is done when it is al dente!
When onions and fennel are ready, add sausage and pasta to onion and fennel pot. Stir over low heat. Slice open the burrata ball and scoop out the Stracciatella, or add in the entire burrata ball! Stir in Stracciatella.
Serve, garnished with black pepper, fresh parsley, and parmigiano.
The Steps with Video
My STEP-BY-STEP VIDEO below will help guide you through the recipe. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for recipe videos every week!
