Sausage and Roasted Vegetables Penne Pasta

This sausage pasta is so light for a perfect summer meal. There is no thick sauce that is heavy, which makes this pasta very healthy. 

Ingredients

Source: Melissa d'Arabian

• 1 sweet onion, cut into wedges
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced 
• 1 medium squash, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, cheeks removed
• 1/2 pound button mushrooms, stemmed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, washed and dried
• 2 sweet or hot Italian sausages, thinly sliced or casings removed
• 1/4 cup white wine or white grape juice
• 12 ounces whole-grain penne, cooked according to package instructions, 1/2 cup pasta water reserved
• Freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a bowl, toss all the vegetables, except the tomatoes, with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange on a baking sheet and roast, until caramelized, about 30 minutes, turning vegetables halfway through the cooking time.

In a small bowl, add the tomatoes and the remaining olive oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and add to the baking sheet, at the halfway point of cooking, to caramelize.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, add the sausage and saute until cooked through.

Turn up the heat and deglaze with white wine.

Once the vegetables are cooked, cool slightly, then coarsely chop. Add the vegetables and any pan juices to the sausage in the skillet.

Toss in the cooked penne, adding reserved pasta water, if needed, to moisten. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve in bowls topped with Parmesan

Sausage Alfredo

It's friday, but I don't know about you but this weekend will be jam packed so it doesn't feel like a friday! So, you need an easy-peasy recipe, using the help of jarred alfred sauce for this one. It is DELICIOUS and talk about some seriously good comfort food.


Serves 4, ready in less than 30 minutes people!


Ingredients:

• 4 sausages, cooked and coin-sliced
• 1-2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 roasted (roasted is optional but so good) red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup beef broth
• 1 (16 ounce) jar alfredo sauce
• 1 lbs penne pasta, cooked and drained
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Directions

1.  In a large pot, heat up oil and fry the red pepper, onion, mushrooms for about 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Add garlic cloves for 15 seconds.
2. Stir in the beef broth, bring to a simmer for a few minutes.
3. Add the alfredo sauce, sausages, and stir in the parmesan cheese.

Yuuuummmmmy et Bon Appetit!

Cathy

Gnocchi Sausage Leek Soup

Happy friday!

Ever have the Olive Garden gnocchi soup? Oh so good. Here in our neck of the Canadian woods, we are deprived of olive garden, so we are left just dreaming about eating their unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks. I know! So I had to do something about it..

Potato gnocchi are actually pretty cheap, like $1.50 for 1 kg (32 ounces). I bought a bag a while back, and since this week have been like FREEZING (-20 Celsius), soup sounded perfect. I also had leeks (look like big green onions), and so I combined a gnocchi soup recipe, with a potato leek soup, added some sausage, and OH MY GOODNESS! It was delicious! We combined it with a fresh baguette, and our canadian winter chills left for the evening.

This recipe serves about 8, typically--but when we ate it for dinner, and then for lunch the next day...it was already gone. So in our family, it served a total of 4 adults, and 2 kids!

Cooking and prep time: less than 30 minutes guys!

• 3-5 sausages or sausage meat, removed from the casings and cooked, or diced
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 leek, cut (look here to see how to clean and chop a leek, she shows 2 ways, either way is fine, depending on how big you want to cut them)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup fresh packed spinach, chopped
• 1 tsp thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tbs cornstarch (mixed in 1-2 Tbs if water)
• 16 ounces potato gnocchi

1. Heat up the olive oil in a pot over medium heat, and then fry the celery, carrot, leek for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until you can smell it.
2. Add the cooked sausage meat, chicken stock, half and half, milk, thyme, salt, and pepper. 
3. Heat to boiling, then add the cornstarch mixed in water, stir. 
4. Immediately add the potato gnocchi. Gently boil for 3 minutes, then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the spinach and cook until it is wilted, a couple minutes.

Oh you will enjoy this! If you want a creamier soup, you can do 2 cups of half and half, or even bump it up to heavier cream. I just happened to only have 1 cup left, and so I did the other cup with milk, and it was amazing and less fatty. Let me know how it turns out!

Bon appetit!

Cathy

Best Jambalaya, ever.

To our 1.4 million fans, HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!! I went to bed at 12:01 and spent the night at home relaxing with my hubby and kids. Everything I wanted. I woke up grumpy though, I best get some good food in me to brighten my mood up!

Thanks to Emeril Lagrasse from the foodnetwork, you get to enjoy the best jambalaya I've ever tasted! FYI, it's officially called "Cajun Jambalaya."

Ingredients

• 12 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped
• 4 ounces chicken, diced
• 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning, recipe follows
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 3/4 cup rice
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 5 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced (any sausages will do)
• Salt and pepper

Directions

In a bowl combine shrimp, chicken and Creole seasoning, and work in seasoning well. In a large saucepan heat oil over high heat with onion, pepper and celery, 3 minutes. Add garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves, Worcestershire and hot sauces. Stir in rice and slowly add broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. When rice is just tender add shrimp and chicken mixture and sausage. Cook until meat is done, about 10 minutes more. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning.

Per Serving: Calories: 402; Fat: 16g (Saturated Fat: 4 grams); Protein: 24g; Carbohydrates: 38g; Sugar: 4g; Fiber 0g; Cholesterol: 97mg; Sodium: 800mg

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning:

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Yield: 2/3 cup

What I would do different:

No added salt. Oh man it was a tad salty, so I would allow everyone to add their own. Also, seeing as how my husband eats, like a lot, I would double the rice, broth, and veggies.


My rating: 8.5/10