I am proud to announce my first successful recipe blog! (YAY!) Now lets get down to business..
My first semi original recipe is Sim's Saucy Sausage & Bowtie Pasta dish, accompanied by sauteed garlicky brussel sprouts and pancetta. The saucy sausage consisted of ground breakfast sausage I needed to use up, red pepper flakes, a few cloves of garlic, mushrooms, shallots, a dash or two of white wine. All tied together with Alfredo and bowtie pasta. You are totally welcome to make homemade Alfredo (but I'm a poor broke full time college student who works) but I just used Trader Joe's Alfredo to save time and money. Since this is a very carb-y dish I made sure I had a green side which consisted of one of my personal favorite veggies, brussel sprouts! YUMMM! Yes I bet a lot of you are looking at me like am effing crazy, but I bet 9 times out of ten, you unfortunately suffered from poorly prepared brussels. Even though they have a bad rep, they are an amazing vegetable. I paired mine with crispy bits of pancetta, garlic, shallots and again, a dash of white wine. DELISHOUS.
Being the young wino I am, great wine pairings with this dish would be a dry Riesling or Chardonnay. Personally, I am not a huge white wine fan so if you are like me, a mellow pinot noir would pair nicely to compliment the subtle spiciness of the pork sausage.
I tried to post as many helpful pictures as possible so lets get started!
( PS: I will post the full recipe at the bottom of my posting)
Ingredients:
I had country "breakfast" sausage to use but any ground sausage will do! Spicy, sweet, mild, whatever you want! Cooking is an art, and never feel obligated to strictly follow a recipe. If you have ingredients that spark your inner chef inspiration then use them!! I also used pre-cut pancetta (again broke, poor, college student) just to speed things up but if possible, try to use a good quality pancetta it will do wonders for your wittle brussels!
For the Alfredo, I just went with my faithful stand by Trader "Giotto's" brand (aka Trader Joe's Brand). Of course, if you have the time and the moo-lah obviously make your own Alfredo because it is worth the extra hassle; but if you're under a time crunch like myself, feel no shame in taking advantage of the Trader Joe's canned food section sista's and brotha's!
As for the cooking wine, the best advice I was given was to never use wine in cooking you wouldn't drink yourself alone. For you wine newbies, white sauce = white wine. I like to keep it simple around here. Usually, I always have wine on hand for cooking because it's an easy, low fat way of adding depth to the flavors in dishes. My favorite cooking wine is the "Two Buck Chuck" from Trader Joe's. Literally the wine costs $2.99 and it's pretty damn good! I obvi wouldn't serve it at a party but I would drink it over lots of other wines (like Barefoot or Yellowtail). It makes the perfect cooking wine because it's cheap and I don't feel bad when I use a whole bottle for cooking (not all at once of course)! T-Joe's has a ton of different kinds too, so you should definitely check it out!
For today I used Charles Shaw's (aka two buck chuck) Chardonnay
Okay now that I have seriously exhausted the ingredients list, lets REALLY get started!
In a large pot, start boiling salted water for the bowtie pasta, once the water comes to a boil throughout your cooking, add the pasta and cook until al dente.
First, start out by heating up a large skillet with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil to the pan (medium heat). Okay for any of you rooks, DO NOT ADD THE GARLIC UNTIL THE PAN IS HOT. Always start out with a hot pan and never add ingredients to a cold pan. It tends to over cook your ingredients and then turn them into mush. JUST DON'T DO IT OKAY?!
Add your delicious minced garlic (to your HOT pan) and cook until fragrant, usually about a minute or so.
Time for the good stuff! DA MEAT.
Please don't be a n00b and plop the whole damn case of pork in the pan while you frantically try and break it up. Add your meat in small chunks to the pan to ensure even cooking. Liberally salt and pepper your sausage. Optional: I love a kick to my meats (and most foods in general) so I liberally added red pepper flakes to my dish. I am a spicy person so I probably added close to 2 tbsp of them, but if you only want a little heat, only add up to a tbsp or less. REMEMBER: you can always add more spice but you cannot add less. Mark my words young or old grasshoppers.
Continue to stir the meat to brown all sides and break it up into small chunks . While the sausage is cooking prep chop your mushrooms and shallots!
Mmmm look at that sausage!
Once it's done cooking (anywhere from 10-15 minutes tops) drain all the grease from the sausage. (Let's just say, my German Shepherd had a good doggy dinner tonight.)
Once the sausage is fully drained, move the sausage onto a plate then return the pan to the stove. Once the empty pan heats up again, deglaze the pan with your white cooking wine. This lifts up all of those yummy brown bits from the sausage that will incorporate themselves into the mushrooms for flavor.
Deglaze the F*** outta that pan.
Once the pan re-heats again, add more garlic and the shallots to the hot pan. Let them cook for a couple of minutes and begin to add the 'shrooms.
Liberally salt and pepper your 'shrooms (Optional: add two tbsp of butter for richer flavor) and cook them at medium heat until they have reduced in size. Add additional wine as needed if the pan begins to dry up.
Once the mushrooms are cooked down, add the sausage to the skillet. Let the sausage warm up so it melds with the mushrooms for depth in flavor.
Once the sausage if fully heated again, add the cheesy goodness to the mix (aka the Alfredo)
Mix the Alfredo, 'shrooms, and sausage until well combined. Cover and let simmer at a low heat.
In the meantime..
Lets get those brussels started!!
First heat up a medium pan with olive oil, at medium heat. When hot, add garlic, shallots and pancetta.
(PS I am a garlic fiend. I use a lot of garlic in recipes. Judge me.)
(PS I am a garlic fiend. I use a lot of garlic in recipes. Judge me.)
Once the pancetta beings to get crispy, deglaze the pan with white wine to slow the cooking process, then add your brussels! I used frozen ones, but try to get fresh ones whenever possible!
Liberally salt and pepper your brussels then cover the pan to steam them. (add red peppa flakes if you like!)
While your brussels are cooking away, check on the consistency of your saucy sausage.
It should be thick and creamy! Help yourself to a quick taste test and season it as needed (even though it will probably be perfect as is!)
Once the bowtie pasta is done cooking, drain it, and add it to the sausage mixture.
Check on your brussels. Once they are bright green (and the pancetta is crispy) they should be ready to go!
Mmmmm...
Once your saucy sausage is thoroughly mixed and heated through... FEAST!!!
Here is the end result:
Cheesy Alfredo goodness, with a subtle kick from the spicy sausage; complimented by out crispy Italian bacon-y brussels.
MUEY PERFECTO
Bon Appetite!
Cheers,
Sim
Sim's Spicy Sausage Recipe
- 1 package of bowtie pasta
- 1 can of a good quality Alfredo sauce (or make your own!) I used Trader Joe's brand
- 1 lbs of ground pork of your choice (breakfast, Italian, spicy, mild, sweet ect. ect.)
- 10 large brown button mushrooms sliced (add more or less depending on your preference)
- 5-6 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 shallot minced
- 2-3 cups of cooking wine
- 3-4 tbsp of olive oil
- Salt & pepper
OPTIONAL:
- 1-2 tbsp of red pepper flakes (depends on how spicy you like it)
- 2 tbsp of butter
First, get a large pot full of salted water and let it start to boil for the bowtie pasta while you cook.Heat up a large skillet on medium heat with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Once pan is hot add 1-2 tbsp of garlic. Stir and cook until fragrant, usually 1-2 minutes.Once the garlic is fragrant add the sausage to the pan in small pieces, spread out evenly over the pan to ensure even cooking. Once all of sausage is in pan, liberally salt and pepper the sausage and if you like, add a much or as little red pepper flakes as you like according to your spicy preference.Once sausage is fully cooked (10-15 minutes) drain the sausage and remove the meat from the pan to a separate plate, let rest.Return the pan back to the stove and re heat it. Once the pan is hot again, deglaze the pan with 3-4 tbsp of white cooking wine. Once the wine reduces and cooks down, add another 1-2 tbsp of garlic and 1-2 tbsp of the shallot (still reserving left over garlic and shallots for the brussel sprouts) to the hot pan. Cook until fragrant 2-3 minutes.Once the garlic and shallots have cooked down add the sliced mushrooms to the pan. Optional: add 2 tbsp of butter for more flavor.Cook mushrooms until they have reduced in size, adding additional wine to the pan if it begins to dry up.(For the pasta: by this time the water should be boiling, so add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the water. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook uncovered.)Once the mushrooms have cooked down (7-10 minutes) add all of the sausage back into the pan. Heat up the sausage on a low/medium heat, cover and let the flavors meld together.Once the meat is fully reheated, add the whole can of Alfredo to the mushroom/sausage mix. Stir until well combined, cover and let simmer on a low heat so it thickens.Once bowtie pasta is done cooking, drain, and add it to the saucy sausage mix until well combined. Let sit for another 5 minutes then feast!Yield: serves 4-5
Side Dish:Garlicky Brussel Sprouts & Pancetta- 1 package of brussel sprouts frozen or fresh (if fresh split the brussels in half)
- 3 cloves of garlic (the remains from the saucy sausage recipe)
- 1/2 a shallot (remains from the saucy sausage recipe)
- 4-5 tbsp (more or less depending on your preference) of Diced pancetta (I bought pre-diced pancetta and used half of the package)
- 1-2 tbsp of garlic oil
- 2 tbsp of white cooking wine
- salt & pepper
- Optional: 1-2 tsp of red pepper flakes
First get a medium sized pan and add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil medium heat. Once the pan is hot (olive oil becomes water like when swirled in the pan) add the garlic and shallots. Stir and cook until fragrant 1-2 minutes.Once the garlic/shallots have cooked down add the pancetta and cook until crispy 5-7 minutes. Once the pancetta becomes crispy deglaze the pan with white wine scraping up all the bits of pancetta.Once the pan becomes hot again, add your brussels. Optional: add your red pepper flakes.Cover and occasionally stir for 15-20 minutes. (if your use fresh brussels it will take less time 10-15 minutes)Once the brussels are bright green and soft (but not mushy) they are red to eat!Yield: serves 3-4
