Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Orecchiette with Hot Italian Sausage and Sauteed Greens


Time for a new video blog. This time I am cooking up a warm pasta salad that is the perfect dish for the summer. It's a one-dish-entree that is easy to make, very flavorful and looks pretty on the plate. All things good.


Episode 11: Orecchiette with Hot Italian Sausage and Sauteed Greens.

Recipe follows.

Orecchiette with Hot Italian Sausage and Sauteed Greens

3/4 lb Orecchiette pasta
2 tbsp butter
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3/4 cup dry white wine
salt and black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb hot Italian sausage (can be substituted with sweet Italian sausage)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 (5 oz) bag of baby arugula
6 Swiss chard leaves, central rib removed and coarsley chopped
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to directions. When draining reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water.
In the meanwhile saute garlic and scallions with butter in sauce pan until softened. Add white wine and simmer until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Pour into blender, add 1/2 cup of water, and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
Saute Italian sausage with olive oil in skillet, breaking up with wooden spoon into bit size pieces as you cook it, until lightly browned and cooked through.
Whipe out pasta pot and add olive oil, arugula and Swiss chard. Cook over high heat until wilted, about 5 minutes. Add pasta, scallion-garlic sauce, sausage and reserved pasta water. Stir together and simmer until sauce thickens. Take off the heat and stir in the mascarpone cheese. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

I am pairing this dish with a Chianti, the Frescobaldi family's 2003 Nippozano Riserva Chianti Rufina. This is a medium bodied red wine with plum and nice spice on the palate, that works really well with the peppery greens and spicy sausage, but is not to heavy for the creaminess of the mascarpone. Find it at Wine-Searcher.com from $15.88.

Enjoy!


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You should be on the food and wine network. oh my gosh you really take it through one step at a time.
It was fun to watch..