Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Over Orchiette

Playing in the kitchen today. Here's the result:

1 clove garlic, minced
¾ lb sweet Italian sausage (no casing)
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of dried basil
pinch of dried oregano
~ 1 cup prepared marinara sauce
1 lb. broccoli rabe (rappini), trimmed
¼ cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/3 lb orchiette pasta (ear shaped pasta)
Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously and add broccoli rabe. Let cook for ~5 minutes or until bright green and tender. Remove using tongs or a slotted spoon and immediately run under icy cold water. Drain any excess water out, chop and set aside in a large bowl.

Bring the same water the broccoli rabe was cooked in back to a boil and add orchiette pasta. Cook according to package directions (10-11 minutes). When cooked, drain thoroughly and add to bowl with broccoli rabe.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat and add garlic. Once fragrant, add sausage and cook until browned, breaking up large pieces with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Add cayenne, basil, oregano and marinara sauce. Once he sauce is heated through, add sausage mixture to pasta and broccoli rabe.

Toss broccoli rabe, sausage mixture and pasta well.

In the same skillet the sausage mixture was cooked in, heat 1 Tbs olive oil over medium heat and add breadcrumbs and gently toast until golden brown. Do not burn.

Add breadcrumbs on top of pasta mixture and serve with parmesan cheese.

Serves 3-4 with a green salad.

Another Scrounge Dinner - Tuna Tonnato-ish

It was another night to scrounge. Nothing sounded good and I was out of my normal weeknight dinner options. My pantry is getting pretty bare so I needed to a little more digging than usual. The result wound up based on an Italian dish called Tuna Tonnato

Tuna Tonnato-ish over Linguini

1 tsp anchovy paste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 can tuna in olive oil, undrained
1/4 cup white wine
Trader Joe's Starter Sauce ~ 17 oz
(contains tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, salt and olive oil)
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried basil
¼ tsp ground Black pepper
3 heaping Tbs drained capers
~ 15 cured black olives, pitted and chopped (Kalamata)
Romano Cheese
1/3 lb thin linguini


Cook linguini according to package directions in a generous amount of salted boiling water.

Meanwhile, add anchovy paste to 1 Tbs olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add shallot and cook until shallot begins to soften, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn. Add garlic and cook until fragrant and shallot is softened.

Add tuna (along with olive oil) to pan and stir. Pour white wine and cook for ~ 30 seconds, stirring and breaking up big pieces of tuna with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Add Starter Sauce* to the pan then stir in red pepper, basil and black pepper. Mix in capers and black olives. Lower heat to medium and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Taste and add salt as necessary but the capers and black olives should add enough salt.

Add cooked linguini to pan with the sauce and stir together using tongs.

Serve with cheese.

Yields: 2 servings

Substitutions and other Suggestions:
• If you're not lucky enough to have Trader Joe’s Starter Sauce in your pantry, use 14-16 oz canned tomatoes. Whatever you have in your pantry is fine: chopped, diced, whole or even crushed.
• If I’d had artichoke hearts, I would have added them.
• I happened to have Romano cheese for a previous dish. Parmesan cheese works great as well but no cheese is necessary. Just a personal preference.
• I didn’t have red pepper flake or I would have used that instead of the cayenne. ~ 1 tsp+ depending on your heat tolerance
• Toss with Fussily or Rotini pasta and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Dream Recipe - Shrimp Pesto Pasta

I was cooking in my sleep again.

This time it was a cold or room temperature pasta dish with Orchiette (the little ear-shaped pasta), shrimp, pesto, cherry tomatoes cut in half, toasted pine nuts and some sort of cheese shaved on top.

I don't remember what the cheese was, but since it was shaved (there were wide, thick ribbons as if made by a cheese slicer or vegetable peeler, not grated or shredded) I'm guessing it was a Parmesan or Asiago.

I think I'll have to make this soon.

Let me know if you make it first!

Scrounge Dinner #1

I’m home, it's late and I'm hungry. I haven’t been to the grocery store and I’m even out of bacon for my beloved Spaghetti Carbonara… What can I make?

Angel Hair pasta – Check
Anchovy Paste – Check
Tomato Paste – Check
Butter – Check
Garlic salt and dried Basil – Check
Fresh Parmesan Cheese – Check
Freshly ground pepper – Check

D’inner! D’elicious!