Iron Chef Wannabe?

Last night Iron Chef America on Food Network ran a special show featuring Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay vs. Rachael Ray and Mario Batali. The special ingredient with which they all had to work was cranberries. One of the dishes on the Ray/Batali side featured a "drunken" pasta that made my mouth water just watching it. After the show I checked the Food Network site to see if they provided recipes from the Iron Chef dishes, but I couldn't find any. If they do provide them, they aren't easily found. Sooo, luckily I had saved the show on my DVR and rewatched it again this morning. I basically just kept playing the parts with the pasta dish until I figured out all the ingredients and how it was cooked.

I cooked it tonight and it was just as tasty as it looked on TV. My husband had THREE servings; he never eats that much! Two hours later he was still talking about it and telling me that it was the best pasta he ever had. So, if I missed any of Rachael's ingredients or techniques, it didn't seem to matter. Even my two-year-old liked it! I can't wait to make it again over the holidays when my family comes to visit.

Here's the recipe exactly as I made the dish tonight...
Drunken Pasta with Cranberry Ragout
1 tbs olive oil
1 hot Italian sausage
2 sweet Italian sausages
1 Onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 bottles of red wine
1 bunch of red chard, stems removed and leaves chopped
Pinch of nutmeg
1 lb of bucatini
1/2 cup of dried, sweetened cranberries
1-2 cups of cranberry juice
Butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmigiano cheese

-- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil
-- Remove sausages from casings, break up and add to skillet
-- Once sausage browns a little, add onions
-- When onions soften a little, add garlic
-- While sausage mixture browns, pour two bottles of wine in large pot and fill one empty wine bottle with water and add to wine in pot if more liquid is needed; add salt and bring to boil
-- When wine boils, add bucatini
-- Meanwhile, add chard and nutmeg to skillet
-- Add half of the cranberries; reserve remainder and add more if necessary
-- Add cranberry juice a 1/4 cup at a time to taste; you may not use all of the juice
-- Let the sausage ragout simmer to allow all the juices to blend
-- Add a ladleful of the wine from the pasta pot to the skillet; use more if necessary
-- Add a pat or two of butter to the skillet
-- Add salt and pepper to taste
-- Pour the sauce over the pasta when it's finished
-- Add parmigiano cheese to each plate

As you can see, my recipe isn't as precise as you would find in a cookbook, but it's a pretty good approximation. I always cook to taste and amend my amounts accordingly. The pasta will come out with a beautiful purpley-red color which looks great with the reds, purples, and greens of the sauce. And it doesn't take very long at all -- maybe 35 minutes from start to finish. It's definitely a keeper recipe.

By the way, Rachael Ray and Mario Batali won.