Whatever's Left In The Fridge Pasta

On an April night this week, as temperatures started to dip again and snow was in the overnight forecast, all I could think about was a comforting warm plate of pasta for dinner. After sticking to salad all last week, it was time for some carbs. I decided to throw some of the basics that I had in my fridge together for a tasty meal.

Ingredients

Wheat Angel Hair Pasta

Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage

Grape Tomatoes

Parmesan Cheese

Arugula

Garlic

Shallots

Red Pepper Flakes (for a kick!)

While bringing water to a boil for the pasta, remove the sausage from their casings and add to a heated frying pan. As the sausage cooks, break the links apart and add coarsely chopped shallots and minced garlic to the pan. Saute the ingredients with a bit of olive oil until the sausage is cooked through.

At the same time, add your pasta to the boiling water and cook according to instructions on the box (mine took about 8 minutes). When the pasta is just about done, add a few handfuls of halved grape tomatoes and arugula to your frying pan with the sausage.

I heated the tomatoes and arugula for only a minute or two because I wanted them to still have an element of crunch when I bit into them with each bite. Fact: I hate stewed tomatoes or any tomato that's been cooked down to a totally soft or mushy consistency.

Toss the sausage, tomatoes and arugula with the pasta and pour in some extra olive oil so the pasta isn't completely dry. Season with red pepper flakes and pepper and top with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese (next time, I will be buying the already grated cheese...).

And enjoy!

I recommend trying this with chicken instead of sausage, too...or whatever else is left in your fridge!

Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce, Sausage & Spinach

It was Mardi Gras yesterday. A day to essentially eat guilt-free before giving something up for the next 40 days. As a result, I decided to make one of my favorite new dinner recipes - Cavatappi pasta with pureed butternut squash sauce, sauteed spinach and seared chicken sausage.

Ingredients:

Sage 
Garlic
1 Shallot
1 tbsp Butter
Cavatappi Pasta
1 Butternut Squash
Grated Parmesan Cheese
3 Handfuls of Spinach
1 Package of Chicken Sausage 

Boiling squash in action!

To start, peel the skin off the squash, cube it and throw it in a pot of boiling water to cook and soften. Once it is cooked through, use a food processor to puree the squash until it is a smooth and creamy consistency. If you don't have a food processor (like I didn't up until this past Christmas) simply mash the squash thoroughly - you will thin it out later on in the recipe.

At the same time, cook the chicken sausage in a pan with garlic for 7-9 minutes. Break the sausage apart and cut it up into large chunks as it cooks. As the sausage starts to brown, add a tsp of butter and the finely chopped shallots.

There are a lot of moving parts to this recipe and you want to be boiling the pasta in the same water that you used to boil the squash as the sausage, shallots and garlic cook. Save a cup of the water before draining the pasta as you will need it to thin the squash into a sauce.

Add the squash, spinach and sage to the sausage mixture in the pan. Stir thoroughly and sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese into the sauce. Also add the cup of pasta water that you saved as that will thin the squash into a creamy sauce. Once the sauce is heated through, pour it over the drained pasta and mix everything together.

This is a delicious meal for a cold night and is guaranteed to give you lots of leftovers for lunch and dinner during the week - or at least it did for me. Bon appetit!

Bacon, Brussels Sprouts & Angel Hair Pasta Recipe

Brussels sprouts are one of the most underrated vegetables out there. They're delicious when seasoned and roasted on their own but throw in bacon and angel hair wheat pasta and what's not to love?! I decided to combine these three ingredients to make an easy dinner this week.

Ingredients

Brussels Sprouts

Bacon or Pancetta

Wheat Angel Hair Pasta

Minced Garlic

Olive Oil

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1. Coarsely chop 4-5 strips of bacon. I cut the pieces to be about the size of a quarter since the bacon will shrink up and I didn't want it to get lost in the pasta. Similarly, rinse the brussels sprouts and chop them or throw them in a food processor so they are a shredded texture.

2. Heat oil in a saute pan and add the bacon pieces to cook. Flip the chunks after several minutes and allow the bacon to start to crisp up. As the bacon cooks, bring water with a pinch of salt to a boil.

3. Add the angel hair pasta to the boiling water and cook according to directions on the box. At the same time, drain the grease from the bacon and then add the shredded brussels sprouts, minced garlic and salt & pepper to the pan. Saute for several minutes to allow the brussels sprouts to soften a bit and heat through.

4. Add the brussels sprouts and bacon mixture to the drained pasta. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into the pot and stir. Mix in a generous amount of shredded parmesan cheese and let it melt into the pasta slightly.

5. Serve to someone who's hungry :)