Ziti with Sausage and Onions From Cooking Light Cookbook

I've always left the fennel out. It's expensive and I'm not sure I'd like the taste.

Prep: 20 min Cook: 32 minutes

1 (1 ¼ pound) fennel bulb with stalks
6 quarts water
2 ¼ tsp salt, divided
1 pound uncooked ziti (short, tube shaped pasta)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
2 c (¼ inch thick) onion wedges, about 2 medium
½ tsp crushed red pepper
¼ c tomato paste
¼ c (1 oz) grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese

1. Trim fennel, reserving fronds and bulb. Cut bulb in half lengthwise, cut each bulb half lengthwise into (¼ inch thick) slices. Cut bulb slices into 2-inch long pieces. Chop fennel fronts to measure 1/3 cup.
(I left the fennel out because it was very expensive and I wasn't sure how the licorice taste would be. This was still really good.)
2. Bring 6 quarts water and 2 tsp salt to a boil in a large stockpot. Stir in pasta and return to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook 8 min or until it is almost al dente, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta in a colander over a bowl, reserving 3 c cooking liquid. ( I forgot to do this so used 2 c tap water later on)
3. While pasta cooks, heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Remove sausage from casings. Add sausage and cook 2 min or until lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Push sausage to one side of pan. Add onion to open space in pan; cook 1 min or until onion begins to soften. Stir onion into sausage. Push onion mixture to one side of pan. Add fennel bulb to open space in pan; cook 1 min or until it begins to soften. Stir fennel into onion mixture. Stir pepper and ¼ tsp salt. Cook 1 min. Move sausage and fennel mixture to outside edges of pan, leaving an open space in center. Add tomato paste to open space in pan; cook 1 min, stirring constantly. Stir tomato paste into fennel mixture.
By moving ingredients to one side and adding a new ingredient in the open space, each can be sautéed in direct contact with the pan to achieve the right browning, instead of steaming in the mass of ingredients.
4. Add 3 cups reserved cooking liquid to pan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 6 minutes or until fennel is tender. Add fennel fronds and pasta, cook 2 minutes or until pasta is al dente, tossing to combine. Remove from heat; stir in cheese (I used parmesan). Serve immediately.
Yield: 8 servings of about 1 3/4 c each.