Thursday, June 20, 2013

summer pasta, wine, and best friend

The bestie is in town and this means eating home cooked meals on the reg with company! Since the theme of this week seems to have been death by lettuce, we dutifully built a mini salad of red leaf lettuce, tomato, and cucumber to accompany dinner. Fairly boring, still tasty. More interesting was the main dish: pasta with escarole and sausage.

I had some leftover sausage in the freezer and the logic was that sausage in all its meaty heartiness (lol) would be our saving grace, balancing the escarole and keep us from feeling like reincarnated rabbits. I deliberately kept everything light and simple though, because it’s summer and it’s hot. A chilled bottle of pinot grigio was a perfect complement to dinner and I wondered what it would be like if me and the bestie lived just a little closer. Wistful thoughts :/

Pasta with Escarole and Sausage
Ingredients:
-          1 head escarole
-          2 sausage links
-          Minced garlic
-          ½ white onion
-          1 box spaghetti or pasta of choice
-          Red pepper flakes
-          Salt, pepper
-          Olive oil

Directions:
1.       Wash the escarole thoroughly and tear into bite size pieces.
2.       Chop onion and set aside.
3.       Chop sausage into bite size chunks.
4.       Cook pasta for ~10 minutes or until al dente.
5.       While pasta is cooking, heat some olive oil in a (very) large pan. Add onion and garlic, stirring frequently to keep from burning and seasoning lightly with salt. When the onion just starts to turn translucent, add sausage chunks. Cook until sausage is lightly browned.
6.       Add escarole, one big handful at a time (to keep pan from overflowing). Season with red pepper flakes and salt. When escarole is cooked through (3-5 minutes), remove from heat and set aside.
7.       Drain cooked pasta, reserving one cup of pasta water.
8.       Add pasta to the pan. Drizzle with olive oil and heat everything together over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add reserved pasta water as necessary.
9.       Serve and enjoy!

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