I have a weak spot, and it happens to be pasta! When I found out, we were getting Italian Sausage from Crooked Shepherd in the CSA this week. I couldn't help but think up a pasta dish! I know there are tons of fantastic ways to work with Italian Sausage, but I figured why not go for comfort too!
When I got home, I got the flowers in water and hopped to making pasta. WOW! The Space Lotus flowers this week are beyond amazing! Jules made sure to give me one with a beautiful rose, she told me the name of it and I, of course, forgot it! But I'm blown away at how stunning it and all the flowers are.
Back to the food! I decided to do garlic, chili, Italian sausage pasta with a pea shoot garnish paired with a mixed green, corn & berry salad. For the salad dressing, I decided to use some of the CSA Monthly gift Cran-Apple Jam as part of the dressing and it added such a good flavor!
It's a rainy day, so it was nice to have a good pasta dish and watch the rain. (Weirdly, I've missed the rain since it's been so sunny lately).
Pasta
I opted to go for making a double batch to save some for another meal! I also went for a fettuccine cut on mine! I also used FinnRiver's Bread Flour because I have the most of it, and it adds a delicious rich flavour.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup Flour
1 Egg
Few pitches of Salt.
Put our flour on a flat surface, make a center, and crack your egg into the center. Add the salt to the top.
Using a fork, stir in flour for the edges. As it starts to form a dough, start kneading with your fingers, adding more and more flour. Keep kneading until you can tear off a small portion, flatten as much as possible and see as if you are almost looking through a windowpane. If you aren't sure, knead a bit longer! It's really hard to over-knead by hand!
I happen to have a fantastic hand pasta maker (thank you, Discovery Channel!!!). Dust a little flour on pieces of your dough, flatten it as much as possible before putting it through the I like to roll mine out to a 7 before running it through the fettuccine setting, hang it to dry to use. For later!
Italian Sausage, Chili Garlic Pasta,
I love spicy food! There is a lot more spice in this than I know everyone is comfortable with! Best part, you can always cut back! I also love garlic, so I use lots of garlic! I also tend to forget to put salt in my pasta water and still love the pasta!
INGREDIENTS - Serves 3
1/2 lb Italian Sausage
6oz Fresh Pasta.
12 garlic cloves, minced.
2 Fresno, sliced as thin as possible
1 serrano, sliced as thin as possible
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + 1T for garnish
Handful of pea shoots.
In a large pot, boil water for your pasta! Salt optional.
While the water is boiling, heat up a large pan over medium-high heat, I use a cast iron. Drizzle a little cooking oil into the pan, cook the sausage, breaking it up as you do.
Once the sausage is cooked, toss in your garlic, stirring until fragrant. Add the peppers, string until fragrant and turn down to low heat.
Cook your pasta until your desired doneness, and before draining, save about 1/2 cup of pasta water.
Drain the pasta and add the pasta to the skilled. slowly pour 1/4 of your saved pasta water and mix it in. Add 1/4 of parmesan and stir. If you feel like it needs more creaminess, add a little more water and the rest of the parmesan.
Add pea shoots and 1T parmesan for garnish!
Salad with Blueberries, Corn and Cran-Apple Jam Dressing!
We got a fantastic cran-apple jam for the CSA Special, and after tasting it, I wanted to put it in a dressing!
INGREDIENTS
2 Cups any lettuce
1/2 Cup Blueberries
1 Ear of Corn, shucked and kernels removed
1T Cran-Apple Jam
1t Grated Ginger
1T Olive Oil
Toss your lettuce, blueberries and corn together.
Combine jam, ginger and olive oil and mix really well!
Toss your salad with the dressing.
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