Sausage Ragu with Mascarpone

This is another great recipe from Cooking with Lucas, available in his cookbook.  I first made it because I had all of the ingredients on hand, but my fam liked it so much that I made it a few times after that, too.  I use 500grams (about one pound) or fusilli bucati corti, a kind of round corkscrew pasta. I really like that shape here.  I always set aside some of the starchy pasta water right before draining.  I slowly add this to the sauce + pasta to make the sauce as creamy as I want.  Every time is different- sometimes I end up adding a lot, and sometimes just a little.  

Sausage Ragu with Mascarpone
adapted from Cooking with Lucas

500grams (1 lb) fusilli bucati corti pasta or similar

3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb. bulk Italian sausage

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup of tomato paste
1/2 cup mascarpone
1 1/2 cup of red wine (or additional beef stock... use low sodium)
1 table spoon, fresh rosemary

1 cup beef stock
1 pinch of chili peppers, optional
Salt & Pepper to taste
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1. Bring a large pot of water to boil, and salt the water with kosher or sea salt.  When it boils, add the pasta and boil as long as the package suggests.  Tests for doneness.  Before draining, set aside one cup of the pasta water.  Meanwhile, in a big frying pan, brown garlic, chili peppers, rosemary and sausage with the olive oil.
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2.  After the meat is cooked through, add the wine or stock and let reduce in half. 
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3.  Add the tomato paste and the stock, let it cook for ten minutes in low heat.
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4.  Turn the heat off and combine the mascarpone, then toss with the pasta. As you are tossing, you can add in some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce and make it more creamy.  Do this if the pasta seems dry at all.  

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