Andouille Sausage Pasta and Veg Bowl
I have never met a pasta bowl I have not liked. They always have surprises in there somewhere. Something you love, or, you might place something in there for a loved one. For me, I love to to add fresh onion, garlic, fresh herbs, Fresno chile and sausage slices. I love andouille, but also smoked Kielbasa, hot links, apple jalapeno, basil, Dakota brats, salami, soppressata and many others. As you can tell, there are a bazillion different combinations! The only limit is your imagination!
For now, it's all about me, heehee, so let's get to my simple, fresh, mostly healthy and flavorful bowl.
Ingredients
Sausage, two links per person, sliced
1 small red onion, thickly sliced into slivers
1 or 2 pints of mixed baby tomatoes (depends on how much you love tomatoes), whole
fresh basil
fresh thyme
2 - 4 Fresno chiles, sliced into discs
2 cups penne pasta
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon dry Italian seasoning
1 lemon, half zest, half juice
2 - 3 tabs butter
In a skillet, sautee the sausage slices in a little evoo. Get a good color, even a char on both sides.
Slice or grate three or four garlic cloves and place them in a bowl. Add the washed tomatoes and the onion crescents. Add the lemon zest and juice to the bowl along with a good drizzle, about three tablespoons, of white balsamic vinegar. Toss and let marinate for about an hour.
Marinate the veg for upwards of an hour. The longer the better. In a pot with about four quarts of water over high heat, add two cups of penne pasta when the water comes to a roiling boil. Also, liberally salt the water, as it is the only chance you get to season the pasta itself. With that in mind, you now have two choices: Sausage or Vegan meal? If you do not want sausage in your bowl, follow the directions without adding the sausage part. This can be an almost purely vegan bowl (except the butter, which CAN be replaced with 4 tablespoons of evoo).
Boil penne about 8-10 minutes, testing a penne noodle at 8 minutes to see if it is al dente or fully cooked. In any event, save a half a cup of the starchy pasta water and pour the pasta into a colander or strainer. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the butter, fresh herbs (basil and thyme) and let the butter begin to melt and then pour in the entire bowl of the veg, marinade and all. Add the hot penne atop that and the pasta water and using a large spatula, toss several minutes to coat everything and continue the cooking process. The hot pasta may cause some of the tomatoes to pop and the pasta water will allow the penne to absorb the many delightful flavors in that big old pot. After about five minutes of stirring and tossing, remove from the heat, turn the heat off, and let it sit several minutes more. Again, you can either leave this part vegan or add the sausage if desired and toss it together.
Serve any way you like. I like adding a sprig of basil or thyme and a little dusting of fresh hand-grated parmigiano reggiano.
This is a great dish for either two or many more. You control the number of sauages (remember, two links per person) and two cups of pasta easily feeds four). Two pints of tomatoes should be used to feed four hungry mouths. The onion and garlic remain the same.
Once again, Thank You all for sticking with me. I appreciate you all very much! Please enjoy this recipe and drop me a note here or on my blog's facebook page about your experience. Thanks!
~Martin
In-House Cook
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