Recipe: Hot Sausage and Plum Tomato Pasta

I've had a rare few days off—no classes, no work, and just a few errands to run—which has left me three full evenings to cook to my heart's content. Sunday night's chicken and spaghetti squash meal was fun and different—the kind of meal that called for some solid recipes to build off of—but this past night's meal was one of those that sort of came from a recipe, but mostly just consisted of me tossing random things in a pan and seasoning them willy-nilly with a variety of dried herbs to achieve what tasted like a well-thought out and recipe-driven meal (i.e. it was a delicious success): a pasta dish with hot Italian sausage, canned plum tomatoes and their juice, and splashes of dry red wine and half-and-half for a little depth of flavor. My dad is a fan of hearty tomato sauce-based pastas and he loves a little heat in his dinner dishes—my mother, not so much, but she's game to try anything I make, as long as I forewarn her about the spice level or the presence of bell peppers (she absolutely hates them). Because you cook the sausage in the pan before adding tomatoes and seasonings to that same pan, the spicy juices from the cooked sausage blend with the tomato juice, creating a subtle heat that coats your entire mouth from the very first bite. A generous sprinkling of dried basil, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper add a deeper flavor to the dish, while a half cup of half-and-half adds a very light creaminess to the sauce formed from the cooked tomatoes and sausage. It's an incredibly simple, easy dish—in fact, some of my past recipes featured on the blog are vaguely reminiscent of this recipe (the meat+sauce+pasta combo. is definitely a winner)—and it's the kind of warm, hearty dish that really fills you up on a cold day.

Serves: 4-6
Prep. time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 8-10 oz. (a little over half a box) medium pasta shells
• 1 pkg. (about 5 links) hot Italian sausage, casings removed, meat pulled/crumbled into bite-sized pieces
• 1-2 tbsp. butter or margarine
• 2 tbsp. olive oil (or enough to evenly coat the bottom of a pan)
• 1 & 1/2, 28 oz. cans whole, peeled plum tomatoes, with their juice; coarsely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup dry red wine (I use cooking wine), or to taste
• Dried basil, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper, to taste
• Italian cheese, if desired

Directions
In a large pot, bring lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions until done (about 11-13 minutes). Drain, return to the pot, and put the lid on to keep it warm. In the meantime, heat the butter and olive oil in a large pan (I used a deep pan, similar to a wok, but a large skillet/pan would work or even a large, low pot). Add the crumbled sausage pieces to the pan and cook until they are browned and cooked through. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and red wine, cooking until the mixture is heated through and a thin sauce forms. Add the half-and-half and stir to blend, then continue to cook. Add desired dried herbs and seasonings and cook until the mixture is fragrant and well-mixed (total cooking time is about 15-20 minutes). Toss the tomato and sausage mixture with the pasta and serve, topped with Italian cheese and herbs if desired. For those with mouths sensitive to heat, I recommend serving a few slices of good Italian bread on the side to help soak up that heat. We sliced up some fresh ciabatta bread and served it with an herb pesto spread.

This dish is incredibly quick and easy to pull together and it's so delicious! The spice from the sausage blends with the tomatoes and their juice to add a kick of heat to the whole mixture, but the half-and-half smooths out the heat and adds a delicate and very subtle creaminess to the sauce. A mixture of dried herbs and Italian cheese add a punch of flavor to the dish and the pasta shells are the perfect medium to hold it all together.

Recipe: Baked Spinach, Tomato, and Chicken Pasta

I'm notoriously bad about taking multiple grocery store trips during the week instead of getting all my shopping done in one trip. I'm also terrible about wasting certain ingredients, like heavy cream, extra veggies, and random ingredients that I don't use often (like ricotta cheese or plain yogurt). My other bad habit is not doing the math before I make a recipe: cooking for three people means I usually follow recipes that serve four people, but sometimes I buy too much of each ingredient or I accidentally make too much when I cook a meal. That all being said, I was determined to at least get one of these things right this week, so I tackled bad habit number one: I picked out four recipes and did all of my shopping on Sunday. Unfortunately, my parents failed to mention that there would only be one night this week that we'd all be home for dinner. Even more unfortunate, they decided they wanted to go out to eat that night. So, I've got all of these wonderful recipes to make and fresh ingredients slowly going bad in my refrigerator and I'm pretty bummed out. Luckily, I got a chance to cook for my dad and myself tonight while my mother was out at an event with friends, and I decided to try one of the recipes I'd picked out for this week: baked spinach and chicken pasta (adapted from this recipe). Wilted spinach, fresh tomatoes, and melted mozzarella pair perfectly with warm pasta shells and diced, sauteed chicken. (On an unrelated note, my birthday is this time, next week, and I'm sincerely hoping that I get a new camera and a spotlight, because I assure you, it will improve my pictures exponentially; for now, bear with me).

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) medium pasta shells
• 2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
• Olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3-4 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 8 oz. mozzarella cheese (I used a ball, and diced it into cubes, but you can use shredded cheese, slices, or whatever preparation you prefer)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil, then cook the pasta according to the package instructions (about 11 minutes). Drain and set aside, covered.
Heat a little olive oil (enough to just cover the bottom the pan) in a large pan. Add the chicken and cook it until it is lightly browned and mostly cooked through (about 10 minutes). Add the minced garlic and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add the spinach, white wine, and salt and cook until the spinach begins to wilt. Add the tomatoes for just a minute to heat them up a bit. Add the pasta to the pan with the chicken and spinach mixture and toss to mix. Place the mixture in a casserole dish, top with mozzarella cheese, and bake for 25 minutes. Serve topped with Italian cheese and seasonings of your choice.

Topped with dried Italian seasoning, dried basil, and some Italian cheese

The flavors in this dish are delicate, so you might like to add a little extra seasoning once you've served the meal. This is the kind of dish that you can easily experiment with—I've already re-imagined this dish with sun-dried tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes, to give it a little kick, and fresh basil mixed in with the spinach to add some fresh, crisp flavor. You can play around with different melting cheeses, substitute shrimp for chicken, add fresh herbs to the spinach mixture, or even try a different type of pasta—that's the beauty of this dish: you can make it any way you want it. The version I've shared is light and delicious though, and really easy to throw together on a busy weeknight.

Pasta Shells with Mixed Greens and Italian Cheese

After eating hotdogs and french fries at the PennState game on Saturday, and spending Sunday evening lounging at a restaurant in the mountains, eating lightly fried goat cheese, filet migon with tomato beurre blanc, and decadent triple chocolate mousse, I wanted a light meal for dinner tonight. Now, while some might not consider any pasta dish a light meal, I think a pasta dish with little or no sauce, lots of veggies, and just a sprinkling of cheese is filling, without making you feel heavy and lethargic later. This is a variation on a Giada De Laurentiis recipe, and it's quite possibly the quickest, easiest meal you'll ever make—it's so light and delicious too!

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 11-14 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) medium pasta shells
• Approx. 4 oz. mixed baby greens, washed and left whole (I used 2-3 big handfuls)
• 8-10 basil leaves, washed and left whole
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (packed in olive oil), chopped
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese (I used a mix of Pecorino-Romano and Parmigiano-Reggiano)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Garlic powder, to taste
• Approx. 1/4 cup olive oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes (it's infused with the flavor of the tomatoes and it adds a delicious flavor to the dish)

Directions
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions (approx. 13 minutes). Drain the pasta, but reserve about 1/3 cup of the pasta water. Place the salad greens on the bottom of the pot that you used to cook the pasta in, then put the drained pasta back on top. Toss to combine, pour the reserved cooking liquid over the mixture, then place the lid on the pot and let the heat from the pasta help wilt the greens. After a minute or two, toss in the sun-dried tomatoes and cheese, and add some salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Drizzle the sun-dried tomato olive oil over the mixture and toss to completely combine. Serve topped with more cheese if desired.

This dish is so simple and light, but the sweet, tangy sun-dried tomatoes and nutty, salty Italian cheeses add a ton of flavor to the dish without adding a ton of calories. The wilted greens add color and a fresh taste, while the sun-dried tomato oil lightly coats all of the tender pasta shells and creates a delicate sauce. We ate dinner out on the back porch, enjoying the cool evening air and some white wine from a favorite vineyard in North Carolina and it was perfect.