Sunday, April 5, 2020

Spinach Tagliatelle and Fettuccine w/ Country Style Sausage

This is an easy and most flavorful pasta dish that I created 'on the fly' one day, for a late evening dinner.  I used on hand ingredients with the least effort, as it was approaching the wind down time for the kiddies and we were finishing up a hectic day.
 I used a country style sausage originally bought for breakfast and decided to use two different pastas because the spinach tagliatelle wasn't enough for a meal on its own.  I had some heavy cream on hand, but I like to mix 2% milk or evaporated milk with it, to shave off some of the fat.  I find that this works well for my family.
This sauce may be prepared in the same way as a bechamel , stirring in a cup of the cooking liquid. The al dente cooked pasta is tossed with it at the end and sprinkled with a little cheese, toasted bread crumbs or both. 
Recipe:
1 lb. country style breakfast sausage, cooked and drained
1 lb. total, spinach taggliatelle and fettuccine, cooked al dente in salted water
1/4 c. heavy cream
2/3 c. 2 % milk or evaporated milk
1 c. pasta water
1/2 c. shredded parmesan cheese
4 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. chopped yellow onion
2 tbsp. AP flour
2 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced
Olive oil for drizzling
SPST (Salt and Pepper to Suit Taste)

To make the bechamel, use the same pan you cooked the sausage in, leaving about 1 tsp. of the rendered fat.
Add butter.
 Add about 1 turn of the pan of olive oil to make sufficient amount to 'cook out' flour over medium high heat.
Add onions, and cook until fragrant and translucent, about 4 minutes.
Sprinkle flour into pan and cook for about 1 minute, scraping up browned bits as you go.
Add milk and pasta water, then cream and garlic.
Bring up to rolling simmer, then reduce to medium.
The sauce will thicken as it cooks, about 5 minutes.
SPST.
Once the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon, stir in the cheese and sausage.
Fold pasta into sauce and simmer for an additional 2 minutes to finish the pasta.
Remove from heat.
Garnish with toasted bread crumbs, parmesan, olive oil or fresh herbs  as desired.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.


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