Why does this recipe call for fennel sausage instead of plain Italian sausage?

Fennel is the flavor that defines this dish. Plain sweet or hot Italian sausage will produce a perfectly edible pasta, but it won't taste like Carmine's version. The recipe appears in their official cookbook and on their recipe cards, and every published version specifies fennel sausage — meaning either loose fennel-seasoned pork sausage or links with fennel in the blend. If you can't find fennel sausage, add 1/2 teaspoon of fennel seeds, lightly crushed, along with plain sweet Italian sausage as a substitute.

Do I need to use Romano cheese, or can I substitute Parmesan?

Romano is a deliberate choice. Pecorino Romano has a sharper, saltier, more barnyard flavor than Parmigiano-Reggiano, and in a white-sauce pasta like this one — where the cheese IS the sauce rather than a finishing garnish — that sharpness does more work. Parmesan will produce a milder, slightly sweeter result. If you use Parmesan instead, increase the amount by about 2 tablespoons and add an extra pinch of salt. Using a mix of both (2/3 Romano, 1/3 Parmesan) is a reasonable middle ground.

When should I add the prosciutto, and why?

Prosciutto goes in at the very end — stirred into the finished sauce off heat, or just as the sauce returns to a very low simmer. Cooking prosciutto for more than a minute or two at anything above gentle heat causes its thin, delicate texture to tighten and dry out. The point of adding it is to have silky, barely-cooked cured ham folded through the pasta, not crispy bits. Two tablespoons is a small amount by volume, but the concentrated salt and fat in prosciutto punch well above their weight.

How do I keep the broccoli from getting mushy?

The Carmine's technique cooks the broccoli directly in the pasta water for the last 3 to 4 minutes. This means you add the broccoli when the rigatoni has about 4 minutes left to go — the broccoli is done when a fork meets light resistance at the stem, not when it's soft. Cut the broccoli into 3-inch pieces (not tiny florets) so there's still some crunch at the end. If you want insurance, blanch the broccoli separately and fold it in when you combine the pasta and sauce.

Can I make this dish ahead of time?

The sauce can be made up to a day ahead and refrigerated; the cannellini-thickened base holds well and often tastes better the next day. Cook the pasta fresh when you're ready to serve — rigatoni that sits in sauce overnight becomes bloated and loses its al dente texture. Reheat the sauce over medium heat with a splash of chicken stock to loosen, add freshly cooked pasta, toss, and finish with the Romano and prosciutto. The broccoli should always be cooked fresh.

What makes Carmine's Country-Style Rigatoni different from other sausage-and-broccoli pastas?

Most sausage-and-broccoli pasta uses either a tomato sauce or just olive oil and garlic. Carmine's version uses chicken stock and butter as the primary liquid, thickened by the starch from two cans of cannellini beans. The beans aren't a prominent visual element — they break down slightly in the simmering stock and act more like a textural body for the sauce. This gives the dish a richness that feels more like a braise than a pasta sauce, and a savory depth that doesn't come from tomatoes.

Carmine’s Rigatoni Country Style (NYC Family-Style at Home)

Name: Carmine's Rigatoni Country Style (NYC Family-Style at Home)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: Pasta and vegetables:; 12 oz dried rigatoni; 8–10 broccoli spears, each about 3 inches long (florets with a short stem); Kosher salt, for the pasta water; Sauce:; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2 tbsp coarsely chopped garlic (about 5 cloves); 1/4 cup thinly sliced yellow onion; 8 oz fennel sausage, casings removed; 8 fresh basil leaves, roughly torn; 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped; 2 cans (15.5 oz each) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained; 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock; 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) unsalted butter; 1 1/4 cups grated Pecorino Romano cheese, divided; Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper; 2 tbsp thinly sliced prosciutto (about 2 slices, cut into strips)

Prep time: 15 min Cook time: 30 min Servings: 6

Carmine’s Rigatoni Country Style is the pasta you order when you want something that isn’t red sauce. The sauce is built from chicken stock, butter, and Romano cheese, thickened by two cans of cannellini beans. Fennel sausage provides the anise warmth, prosciutto adds a salty finish, and broccoli holds its texture from being cooked directly in the pasta water. At the restaurant, a family-style portion runs about $50 and serves three. This recipe serves six for under $20.

The Story Behind the Recipe

Artie Cutler opened Carmine’s in 1990 at 2450 Broadway on the Upper West Side, betting New York was ready for a revival of the Italian-American Sunday-dinner tradition — enormous family-style platters passed around a checkered-cloth table. He was right. The restaurant filled immediately, a Times Square location followed in 1994, and Carmine’s has operated with a reservation waitlist for most of its 35-year history.

The Rigatoni Country Style is one of their most-requested dishes and appeared in the Carmine’s family cookbook and on take-home recipe cards. What makes it distinctive is the sauce: no tomatoes. Instead, the base is chicken stock and butter, thickened by starch from cannellini beans as they simmer. The fennel sausage is not substitutable — it’s the warm, faint anise note that separates this from a generic sausage-and-broccoli pasta. The prosciutto goes in at the end, barely warmed, providing a silky, salty counterpoint to the beans.

Equipment Notes

12-inch sauté pan or Dutch oven — the sauce needs room to reduce without boiling over, and you’ll toss the pasta in the same pan
Large pasta pot (6+ quart) — rigatoni needs space, and the broccoli joins partway through
Reserve pasta water before draining — the starchy liquid is the simplest way to loosen a thick sauce

Carmine's is a trademark of its owner, used here only to describe the dish this recipe recreates. This is an independent copycat written in our own words — Copycat Spices is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Carmine's.

Carmine's Rigatoni Country Style (NYC Family-Style at Home)

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