Creamy Penne Pasta with Sausage

This dish is a total sausage-fest, dudes.

Sorry, I just couldn't help saying that.  Those responsible have been sacked.  Anyhoo, this dish is just something I whipped up one night when I didn't have a lot on hand nor did I have anything planned.  It came about pretty dang great, for a quick dish, anyway, so I decided to add it to my repertoire.

Creamy Penne Pasta with Sausage

1 Lb Penne Pasta, Cooked Al Denté
12 Oz Smoked Sausage (or what have you)
2-3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Large Yellow Onion, Diced
6 Oz or so Crimini Mushrooms or Similar, Sliced
1 Cup White Wine
2 Tablespoons Italian Dressing
1.5 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
4 Oz Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Heat oil over medium heat in skillet.

We had some store-bought smoked sausage on hand, so that's what I used.

It ain't bad, but it ain't exactly ambrosia either.  Use what you like.  Some hot Italian sausage would be great.  Andouille?  C'est Bon!  Chorizo, Muy Bueno.  Shoot, buy some fresh sausage and smoke your own.  Whatever you do, just make sure it is something you and your guests like.

Slice sausage into quarter inch thick disks.

Sauté these in the oil for a couple minutes a side, just to wake 'em up a bit.

Remove from skillet and reserve.

Dice your onion.

Slice your mushrooms.

Add the diced onion and sauté for a few minutes.  Add the sliced mushrooms and do the same.

Add the white wine and stir to break up any browned bits.  Simmer until the wine is reduced by a half.

Next up, the Italian dressing.

Use whatever kind you like.  This is one of them there secret ingredients.  Adds a little zing to the dish.

Add the heavy cream and reduce heat to low.

Let simmer a few minutes, stirring frequently.  During this time, add the Italian seasoning.

This isn't something I use a lot.  I generally prefer to make my own blends of herbs for whatever dish I'm making.  But someone once brought this seasoning to my house and left it, so I keep it on hand now and use it in times like these, when I'm being lazy, or just when I'm going for a 'general' Italian flavor without putting too much effort into it.

Return sausage to the sauce and warm through.  Add the Parmesan at the very end and stir.

Serve over the pasta with a little extra Parmesan on top.

Enjoy!

Chris

Smoked Chicken Pesto Stuffed Shells

Here’s a simple yet tasty dish that utilizes one of the most versatile of all smoked foods, smoked chicken. 

Unlike pork and beef, chicken doesn’t really have a long history as a smoked food.  Historically, it was boiled, but at some point in the early Twentieth Century, someone got the bright idea to throw a chicken into a smoker, and the results were fantastic.  Unlike tough cuts like beef brisket and pork shoulder, which need a lot of low and slow cooking to become tender, chicken is natively tender, unless of course you overcook it.  It’s also very moist and porous, which means it takes on smoke flavor readily, and doesn’t need a long time to cook.  I usually buy lots of chicken when it is on sale, smoke it, and freeze the pieces for later cookery.  You can find more info on my yard bird smoking technique here.

Anywho, for this dish, I’m utilizing some of the smoked chicken I’ve pulled from the freezer and thawed.  You could of course make this dish with chicken you’ve cooked any old way (hopefully not boiled, though), but I think the smoke flavor combined with the cream cheese and other ingredients really makes this dish sing. 

Smoked Chicken Pesto Stuffed Shells

2 Cups Smoked Chicken, Diced

6 Oz Mushrooms, Sliced

1 Medium Onion, Diced

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 or so Cloves Garlic, Minced

1 Package (8 oz) Cream Cheese

1 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan cheese

1 Cup Freshly Grated Asiago cheese

1/2 Cup Prepared Pesto

Salt and Pepper to taste

12 or so Jumbo Pasta Shells, Cooked Just Under Al Dente

Parsley, for garnish

Start water boiling for your pasta shells.  Preheat Oven to 350˚F.  Sauté mushrooms and onion 

until cooked and just start to turn golden.  

Add minced garlic and cook one minute more. 

Meanwhile, tend to that chicken breast.  

This recipe uses a breast that I’ve presmoked.  You can use whatever you like, but the smoke flavor really makes the dish.  Dice the fully smoked breast up into small pieces. 

Add the chicken and the cooked mushrooms and onions to a food processor.  Pulse a couple times to chop everything up.  Add to this the cream cheese, 3/4 cup of the Parmesan, 3/4 Cup of the Asiago and the Prepared Pesto.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  

Pulse a few times until everything is mixed up, but don’t do too much, or you’ll end up with a paste.  We still want some small chunks of chicken and mushroom in there. 

Cook your pasta shells until they are firm but not cooked through.  This will help them hold their shape and stay together while you stuff them.  They will finish cooking in the oven. 

Stuff the shells with a tablespoon or two of the mixture.  

Place the shells in a greased casserole dish.  

Cover with foil.  

Bake 30 Minutes at 350˚F, then remove foil and dust the shells with the remaining Parmesan and Asiago.  Increase temp to 450˚F and bake another few minutes, until cheese topping melts and starts to turn golden brown.  

Remove from oven and serve. 

These go great by themselves or you can drizzle some red sauce over them, or serve with a side salad, or whatever.  This one’s all about simplicity. 

Until next time,

Chris

  

Farfalle Ronaldo

Ingredients

8 Oz Bow-Tie Pasta
3 Oz Sun Dried Tomatoes
3 Oz Pitted Kalamata Olives
3 Oz Feta Cheese, Cubed
2 Oz Pine Nuts
2 Teaspoons Basil
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

When Romano's Macaroni Grill opened near me in the early '90s, I was thrilled.  This restaurant really took Italian Cuisine to a new level, one heretofore unseen by a chain restaurant.  Over the years, they've changed their menu from time to time, but I'm still pretty happy with their fare.  Except for the fact that they discontinued my favorite dish, Farfalle Ronaldo.

You can still sort of get them to 'manufacture' this dish for you from the build-your-own-pasta-menu, but it just doesn't seem to be the same.  Can't recall why--perhaps there was some ingredient missing.  Anyway, the next best thing is to make it at home--in fact, that may even be the better thing.  I've been making my own version for years.  It's quick, easy, and can be made from ingredients that you probably have on hand, or should.  Here's how:

You could use any sort of olives in this, but the Kalamata are traditional.

Sun Dried Tomatoes come all sorts of ways, including suspended in oil.  These are two oily for me, I just buy them dry.  You can even get them already julienned.

Pine Nuts:  Make sure you get fresh pine nuts.  Because of their high fat content, these can go rancid quite quickly, so avoid buying them in little packets that have been hanging on the grocery store shelf for who knows how long.  I buy them from Central Market in bulk, then freeze them in a ziplock until I need them.

Feta Cheese comes in all sorts of flavors these days.  Just get regular.  Also resist the urge to buy the already crumbled version--the crumbs in these are too small and melt when you mix things.  Buy the block and cube it.

Okay, let's get down to business.


First, get some water boiling in a large pot.  Do the same in a small sauce pan or saucier, then boil your sun dried tomatoes in the small sauce pan.  Let things boil for a few minutes to soften the tomatoes.

Once they are soft, drain them and return them to the same pan.

Add the olive oil and saute them a minute or two.

While this is going on, add your pasta to the now boiling water in the big pot.  Boil for 6-8 minutes, until Al Dente, or to your liking.

You can also cube your Feta right now.

After a couple minutes, add the olives to the sun dried tomatoes.  Olives, with their high levels of fat, taken on a whole new level of flavor when heated through.

Stir the whole concoction with a fork or spoon while its heating, to keep it from scorching on the bottom.

Add the basil.  If you have fresh, you can certainly use that, but our garden was bare when we made this batch, so we used dried.

Add the pine nuts.

Cook another minute or two to let everything heat through.

Keep stirring it from time to time.

Drain your pasta, place some in a bowl, then spoon on your tomato concoction.  Top with some of the feta.  Serve immediately.

.

Until Next Time,

Salute!


Chris

Farfalle with Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

This is a simple yet easy to fix pasta dish that can be made in minutes but still packs a lot of flavor.  Better still, it can be made from ingredients you probably keep in your pantry (or should) for those times when you just can't seem to make it to the grocery store.

Of course you could roast your own peppers, slice up fresh tomatoes, roll out your own pasta dough, and I'm not knocking that--I do it all the time.  But in some cases there are certain flavors that show up in canned or jarred versions of veggies that actually aren't found in fresh, and in the case of this recipe, I prefer that.

Farfalle with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

8 Oz Cooked Farfalle (Bow Tie) Pasta
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion, Diced
1 12 Oz Jar Roasted Red Peppers
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
1 6 Oz Can Tomato Paste
1 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika
Dash Red Pepper Flakes
Salt to Taste

Start salted water boiling for your pasta.

Heat a skillet with the olive oil in it.

When it is hot, add your diced onion

and cook until the onions just start to turn golden brown.  While this is going on, get your jar of roasted red peppers.

I really loved these jarred roasted red peppers, and always keep a few of 'em in my pantry for last minute dishes like this one.  They have a unique flavor from being both roasted and slightly pickled that I find I can't get when I roast my own fresh red bell peppers.

Anyway, pull 'em out of the jar.

They will be pretty large pieces, so chop them down to something around bite sized.  Add 'em to the skillet when the onions have started to turn golden.

Stir this around and let cook for a few minutes, then add the balsamic vinegar.

Cook for one minute and then add the tomato paste.  Follow up this by adding the heavy cream.

Give everything a good stir to combine.

Add the smoked paprika

and the red pepper flakes, then allow to cook for 10 minutes or so, stirring often.

While this is going on, cook your farfalle in the boiling water until al dente, probably 8-10 minutes.

After 10 minutes taste the sauce and adjust with salt if necessary to taste.  Place the pasta in a bowl, spoon sauce over and serve it with a little shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top.

Until next time,

Savor the flavor, my friends.


Chris