For an easy weeknight meal the whole family will love, try this spicy pasta dish with hot Italian venison sausage and vodka sauce. It’s a recipe I keep on repeat and even make in bulk to freeze for those busy nights when I don’t have time to cook.

You can make it with loose pork sausage, but I think venison adds a rich meatiness that I enjoy. Every hunting season I make homemade Italian sausage with the deer or elk that we shoot, adding 30% pork fatback. I never seem to make enough, and I quickly run out, so I came up with a hack for seasoning plain ground venison with a blend of spices that I typically use in my sausage recipe. The main difference is that it will have less fat than a true sausage, but you can always add extra olive oil to the pan when browning.

You can find my recipe for hot Italian venison sausage in my cookbook, Wild + Whole.

Spicy Venison Sausage Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce

Serves

Ingredients

1 pound dried rigatoni, penne, or ziti pasta
Olive oil for cooking
1 pound venison hot italian sausage, casing removed *see note
1 large shallot, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
⅓ cup vodka
28 ounces tomato puree
1 cup heavy cream
Red pepper flakes, grated parmesan, and fresh basil for serving

Directions

Cook the Rigatoni. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Season with a few big pinches of salt and add the pasta. Cook, stirring occasionally so the pasta doesn’t stick, until tender and toothy, about 10 -15 minutes. Reserve a cup of the pasta water, then drain the rigatoni, rinse with cool water, and set aside.
Make the Pasta. Remove the meat from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before cooking. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add a little splash of olive oil, just enough to very lightly coat the bottom of the pan, and spread the sausage across it. Cook the sausage without stirring until the bottom of the meat is brown, about 3-4 minutes. Stir the meat and continue cooking until brown on all sides.
Reduce the heat to medium and mix in the shallot. Allow it to cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 4 minutes more. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute or two. Don’t worry if it’s thick and sticks to the meat. You want the heat to caramelize the natural sugars and deepen the flavor. Next, add the vodka sauce and let it come to a boil. Use a spatula to scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the tomato puree and heavy cream. Reduce the heat to low so that it just barely simmers.
Add the cooked pasta to the pan and stir to incorporate. Pour in about ½ to 1 cup of reserved pasta water to thin to desired consistency. Keep in mind it will thicken as it cools.
Serve hot with a garnish of red pepper flakes, some freshly grated parmesan, and fresh basil.

Notes

Don’t have hot Italian venison sausage? No problem! I often take 1 pound of ground venison from my freezer (which is usually blended with 20% pork fatback) and add the following spices when browning the meat to “hack” a sausage: ½ teaspoon sweet smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, ½ teaspoon of crushed fennel seeds, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, and ¼- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (mild or spicy). The main difference is that this will have less fat than true sausage, but you can always add a little more olive oil to the skillet when cooking if more fat is desired.