Back from the Break with Pesto Pasta with Sausage

Recipe name: Pesto Pasta with Sausage
Source: Pennies and Pounds
Servings: 4
Cookbook date: January 7

1 pound pasta
2 tablespoons almonds (approximately)
4 cloves garlic
1 bunch cilantro
salt and pepper
1/4 c. olive oil
Reserved pasta cooking water
1/4 c. grated pecorino romano
1 pound turkey smoked sausage or kielbasa

Tim here once again. We took a little hiatus over the holiday break and now we are back in full force, well back posting at least. As always we made a few modifications to the recipe. We used dried cilantro and Parmesan cheese rather than Ramano.

Cooking the dish was pretty straight forward. First you start a large pot of water on the stove top to boil. Cook the pasta until it's al dente or still a bit chewy. The great thing about this recipe is that you can prepare the pesto while the water is working up to a boil.

To make the pesto you combine the almonds, garlic, cilantro and salt and pepper in a food processor. Once everything is chopped up you can drizzle in the olive oil. About now the water should be ready for the pasta. Once you put in the pasta to cook you can start on the sausage.

I cooked the sausage on a large skillet on medium heat until it was browned. Before you strain the pasta sauce make sure you reserve a cup of the water. Use this water for the pesto sauce in the food processor and process until you get to a smoother consistency. Now all you have to do is put it all together. I decided to to toss the pasta, pesto, Parmesan cheese and sausage in the pot I cooked the pasta in to reduce the number of dishes. If it still seems to dry you can add in some of the left over pasta water.

While we both enjoyed this dish but we felt that the pesto sauce was lacking. If we had to do it over we would make sure we used a fresh bunch of cilantro and made the pesto a little more saucy.

Rachel Ray's Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage

Recipe name: Rachel Ray's Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage
Source: Food Network
Servings: 4-6
Cookbook date: November 14

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage
• 4 cloves garlic, cracked and chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf,
• 4 to 6 sprigs sage leaves, chopped
  
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock, canned or paper container
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup (3 turns around the pan) heavy cream
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
• Coarse salt and black pepper
• 1 pound penne rigate, cooked to al dente
• Romano or Parmigiano, for grating

Directions

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it. Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate. Drain fat from skillet and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender.

Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes. Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble. Return sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream. Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute. Garnish the pasta with lots of shaved cheese and sage leaves.

Tim here once again. The only substitute I used this time was nonfat milk for heavy cream. I know what you are thinking, nonfat milk isn't really a good substitute for heavy cream. That is what I thought as well, but the dish turned out great. Granted, it wasn't nearly as creamy as it would have been with the heavy cream but we both really liked it. I took the sausage out of their casings before I cooked them so it would be easier to break the meat into bite sized pieces.

I was a little concerned when I first read the recipe. I mean how is Italian sausage, canned pumpkin and a whole bunch of holiday spices going to all work out as an Italian pasta dish? Well, I'm still not sure why everything goes together so well but it does. You definately have to try this one. One word of advice, go heavy on the parm cheese at the end. Yum-O.

too much of a good thing: lasagna casserole

Recipe name: crockpot lasagna casserole
Source: cookingcache.com
Servings: 8
Cookbook date: July 10
Date prepared:

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 28 oz can peeled tomatoes, in thick tomato puree
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp pepper
1 lb bow-tie pasta or fettucine, freshly cooked
1 10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed to remove excess moisture
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef, onion and garlic, stirring often to break up lumps, until the meat loses its pink color, about 5 minutes. Tilt the pan to drain off excess fat, then transfer the beef mixture to a 3.5-qt slow cooker.

Add the tomatoes with their puree, the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and pepper, stirring to break up the tomatoes with the side of a spoon. Cover and slow cook for 7 to 8 hours on low.

Skim the fat from the surface of the meat sauce. Stir in the cooked pasta, spinach, and ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, and slow cook for 5 more minutes.

Like (almost) always, we used ground turkey for this recipe. Believe it or not, that is the only thing I changed about the recipe (except the name, which was originally ravioli casserole, but there's no ravioli in this dish!).

Aside from the Italian seasoning being a bit too strong, this was a B+ meal. It was filling, it was tasty, and it has spinach in it so you can pretend that it is good for you. We really did enjoy it... until the 4th time we were each eating it. By that point, we hated it. The recipe itself didn't state how many servings this made, and frankly, I just wasn't thinking about it when I made it. If you have a large family or are going to a potluck and need a main dish, this is a good way to go. If there are only 2 or 3 of you in your family, you've been warned that you'll be eating this for days.

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