Slow Cooking: Spicy Sausage w/Farfalle, Broccolini & Mushrooms

It's a rainy day, and that means the slow cooker is set and the house is cozy and everyone is lazing around. Today, the kitchen smells like an Italian Nonna is here: spicy sausage, garlic, tomato sauce, yum!

I've had a few friends ask if noodles work in the crock pot. While I still think the best way to cook pasta is on the stove, it doesn't come out terrible if you add towards the end of your slow cooker time -- just be sure there's enough liquid to help cook it through, and don't leave it on the warm setting for too long before serving as there's a risk of it turning too soft. But, if you keep an eye on it, you shouldn't have a problem making a one-pot pasta dish, like the one below:

Spicy Sausage with Farfalle, Broccolini and Mushrooms

Put some spice in your life!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb hot Italian sausage
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 large red pepper, sliced and diced
• 1/2 lb Crimini mushrooms, chopped
• 4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• Red pepper flakes
• 1 bunch Broccolini, chopped
• 1 jar tomato sauce
• 1 box Farfalle pasta
• S/P to taste
• Grated parmesan cheese

To Do:

• Crumble the sausage (remove casings as needed) into the bottom of a slow cooker crock.
• Add in the garlic, red pepper, mushrooms, tomatoes and a pinch or two of red pepper flakes and stir to combine. 
• Put on the 4 hour setting and go organize your hall closet or something.
• At 3.5 hours, stir in the Broccolini, tomato sauce and Farfalle and re-cover.
• 30 minutes later, your pasta should be cooked through.
• Let cool a bit and season with salt/pepper as needed.
• Scoop into bowls, sprinkle with grated cheese, and enjoy.

xoxo,

LPG

Spring Supper: Farfalle with Chicken and Broccoli

Spring is here.  (Kind of.)

Actually, it has been "Spring" for over a week now. So, it would be nice for the sun to make an appearance one of these days. But, I guess Mother Nature has other plans for us at the moment.

Speaking of plans, dinnertime came upon me rather quickly today, so I scrambled to find something simple yet satisfying to make.

I decided to go with veggies and pasta. So, I put on some water for pasta and browned some sliced chicken breasts in a pan with butter, garlic, and a bit of chicken broth. When the chicken was cooked through, I added in some baby broccoli -- stems and leaves, too -- as well as some oregano, basil and parsley. 

I reduced the heat to low and let it simmer uncovered while the pasta boiled. (I had some tri-color farfalle which seemed rather "Springy.") When the pasta was done, I drained all but 1/4 cup of the liquid from it, then added the chicken and broccoli mixture to the pasta pot. All it needed was a generous sprinkle of salt/pepper and a good toss to combine everything.

Served in deep bowls with some crusty bread and a simple green salad on the side, our springtime supper was ready in no time.

Now if only that sunshine could hurry itself up, too.

xoxo

A Winter's Treat: Roasted Squash with Bacon, Kale (of course!) and Farfalle

As you know, there is a little bit of a love affair between my husband and kale at the moment, so when I spotted a "15 Must-Try Kale Recipes" email from Cooking Light in my inbox, I thought, "I should make that for Chris!" (I also thought, "Why am I getting these emails? I have heavy cream, butter and bacon in my fridge at all times.")

There are indeed some great "must-try" recipes, and one of them, the Bacon and Butternut Pasta dish sounded amazing. Especially because its ingredients include kale, bacon, garlic, and pasta -- which I happen to have in stock 24/7. I also love that it calls for crème fraîche which adds a lovely creaminess to a recipe without having to worry about it separating when heated. (If you can't find it, substituting with full-fat sour cream or plain Greek yogurt would be okay.) And, I was thrilled that I could use the gorgeous butternut squash that was sitting on my counter. Score!

However, like most recipes that seem to cross my path, I thought this one needed some tweaks. So, I tweaked. (I used goat cheese instead of gruyere and omitted the flour/white sauce step. And, instead of using chicken broth, I took advantage of the lovely pasta/kale infused water already on the stove.) The result was a delicious, pasta dish that you could serve as a mostly-meatless main course or as a lovely warm winter salad/side dish. If you feel the need to add more cheese, try a sprinkle of smoked cheddar or gouda, but don't overdo it. The flavors are so lovely you don't want to cover them up. And, don't tell Chris, but I think the star of the dish is actually the squash. It really brightens up the dish both in flavor and color. Delish.

Roasted Squash with Bacon, Kale and Farfalle
Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
2 TBS walnut oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 lb. box of farfalle pasta
1 bunch kale, stems removed, and leaves finely chopped
4-6 slices smoky bacon, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups crème fraîche
4 TBS goat cheese
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Kosher Salt
Ground black pepper

To Do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Toss the squash, walnut oil, garlic powder and a pinch or two of salt and roast until tender, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside, but keep oven at 400 degrees.

• While the squash is roasting, boil the pasta and remove it from the water with a slotted spoon when it is almost al dente. (It will continue to cook in the oven and you don't want it to be mushy.) Keep the water at a boil.
• Add the kale in batches (if necessary) to the boiling pasta water until the kale turns bright green, about 1 minute, then remove with slotted spoon to a separate bowl/colander from the pasta.
• Reserve about 3/4 cup of the pasta/kale water.
• Add the bacon to a large skillet and cook over medium heat. When it starts to crisp, add the garlic and cook until garlic is tender, about 3 minutes more. Add the kale and the reserved water and simmer 1-2 minutes to combine flavors. Remove from heat. 

• In a large bowl, gently combine the squash, pasta, and kale/bacon/garlic mixture. 

\

• Stir in the crème fraîche and crumble in 2 TBS of the goat cheese.

My favorite kind.

• Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste (you might not need to add salt since there's bacon in the mix, but test it) and 1/4 tsp of the nutmeg.
• Transfer to a large baking dish then dot the top with the remaining goat cheese and nutmeg.

• Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, until browned.

• Devour.

xoxo

Farfalle with Eggplant, Zucchini, Tomato and Smoked Mozzarella

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. --Julia Child

I found myself with an overstuffed refrigerator and decided to use up some of the vegetables that were languishing in the crisper.  I was thinking ratatouille, but didn't have any peppers on hand, and wanted something a bit more substantial, so I put a pot of water (w/ a handful of kosher salt in it) on the stove to boil some farfalle pasta and in the meantime, diced some eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, garlic and red onion.

I put the onion and garlic in a skillet with some olive oil and sweated until soft. Then, in went the zucchini and eggplant and a pinch of salt.  When they started to soften, I added in half a can of peeled plum tomatoes (no sauce) crushing them with my hands before adding to the pan.

This all simmered for about 10 minutes more, then I tossed in the mushrooms, some ground black pepper and 2 TBS of balsamic vinegar (optional).  After five more minutes, I added the cooked pasta to the pan, stirred everything together and threw in about 1/2 cup of diced smoked mozzarella and 1 TBS of fresh parsley. The smoked mozzarella made all the difference.  Chris even liked this and he is not a huge fan of eggplant or mushrooms.  

Terrific!

xoxoxo