This was my favorite dish as a child, oozing with melted butter, cheese, and finely sliced ham. It now lives in a very different, cheeseless (!) iteration, when I can get the pasta…

Ingredients (single serving):

  • 80 grams of crozets
  • salt
  • a few cracks of black pepper
  • red chili flakes to taste
  • 1/6th of an onion, finely diced1
  • 1 spicy sausage, diced2
  • 1 tablespoon(ish) of butter, finely diced

Preparation:

  • put the crozets, salt, and just enough water to cover them in a pan
  • cook until done, usually about 15 minutes, by which point the water should have boiled down into a thick starchy sauce3
  • meanwhile, roast the diced sausages in the oven, flipping them from time to time
  • add the onion, pepper, and chili flakes
  • mix on high heat until you reach your desired consistency
  • add the sausages, then, off the heat, the diced butter
  • mix vigorously until the butter has fully dissolved

Credits:

My parents have been cooking a version of this for as long as I can remember. It was the Sunday cartoon night food, and a fond memory.

  1. I used to do this with scallions or chives. But I always have onions in my pantry and, finely diced, they do just as good a job if not better. ↩︎

  2. Many meats work here. I long used uncooked vegan sausages, diced ham, diced turkey ham, etc. ↩︎

  3. If you lack water, you can always pour a little in as you go. If there is too much, the crozets can survive some cooking and vigorous stirring on high heat as you evaporate it to your prefered consistency. ↩︎