Pasta with Turkey Sausage, Peas and Mushrooms

I so love this recipe: Pasta with Turkey Sausage, Peas and Mushrooms is packed with flavor and requires minimal effort. This is perfect for those of you who don't groove on a saucy pasta. Of course, The Jersey Girl grooves on all pasta, but to each his own!

The recipe calls for farfalle aka bow ties, but orecchiette is what I had on hand, so that's what went in this dish. Any short pasta will due. I can see this going well with mezze rigatoni, too.

Please note I totally do not use as much salt as Giada calls for. 

I used baby bella mushrooms that were already sliced to save myself some time. Shortcuts are sometimes God's plan.

Here you go:

Farfalle with Turkey Sausage, Peas and Mushrooms

Makes 4 main-course servings

From "Everyday Italian" 

By Giada DeLaurentiis

Ingredients:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided

1 lb. turkey sausages, casings removed

10 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced

3/4 tsp. sea salt, plus more to taste

3/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas, defrosted slightly

1 lb. dried farfalle pasta (bow-tie pasta)

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

In a large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over a high flame. Add the turkey sausage and saute until golden brown, breaking up any large clumps, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a plate and set aside. Heat 2 more tablespoons of oil in the same pan. Add the mushrooms and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Saute until all of the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Add the peas and saute for 2 minutes. Return the sausage to the pan and cook until the sausage is heated through and the flavors have blended, about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the farfalle and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot and add the meat mixture. Toss over medium heat to combine and heat through, adding enough of the reserved cooking water to moisten, about 5 minutes. Drizzle in the remaining oil. Season the pasta with more salt and pepper to taste. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the Parmesan cheese and toss to combine. Transfer the pasta mixture to a large bowl and serve.

Mushroom Ragu

This Mushroom Ragu is fabulous for a meat free main night. I served it over fettucine, but I think it would work well over a short-cut pasta like rigatoni or over creamy polenta.

The recipe calls for mixed mushrooms, but I just used a package of baby bella mushrooms. Easy peasy.

I used red wine instead of Marsala, because that's what I had. I also used beef broth instead of chicken broth, because I feel like beef broth compliments mushrooms better.

I also added 1/3 cup half and half to the sauce before tossing over the pasta for a little creaminess.

Mushroom Ragu

From Everyday Italian

By Giada DeLaurentiis

Makes about 3 cups, serves 4 over a pound of pasta or as a first course

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. mixed wild mushrooms (such as cremini, oyster, stemmed shitake), chopped

1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1 cup Marsala

2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

5 fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Optional: 1/3 cup half-and-half

Instructions:

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Saute onion until tender, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and saute for another minute. 

2. Add the mushrooms, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Increase the heat to high and saute until the mushrooms are tender, about 8 minutes. 

3. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Marsala. Return the pan to the heat and simmer until the Marsala evaporates, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and simmer until the sauce has reduced by half, about 30 minutes. 

4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in cheese, basil, parsley. Season the ragu with more salt and pepper to taste. (The sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before using).

Please note: The Jersey Girl used the sauce immediately. She used red wine in place of Marsala and beef broth instead of chicken broth. She added 1/3 cup of 1/2 and 1/2 to the ragu before tossing over cooked fettucine. To make the sauce thinner, add a ladle or two of pasta water. 

Pasta with Marinated Grape Tomatoes

Pasta with Marinated Grape Tomatoes is a total necessity. I make this all year, but it's really a blessing for the summer when you don't feel like cooking a big thing but need your pasta fix.

The beauty of the dish is it requires zero cooking time or energy for the sauce. Just toss all the ingredients together in a serving bowl and set aside for at least 30 min. Cook the pasta, add it the sauce with some pasta water and voila! Perfection. 

Top with mozzarella or goat cheese if you like.

Pasta with Marinated Grape Tomatoes

Makes 4 side dish servings

 1/2 pound orecchiette or other short pasta

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. fresh basil, minced, plus more for garnish

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for garnish

Fresh mozzarella, diced, or crumbled goat cheese

In a medium serving bowl, combine grape tomatoes, garlic, red pepper, black pepper, salt, basil and olive oil. Stir gently. Set aside for at least 30 minutes.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook orecchiette as directed by the package. Once cooked, transfer cooked pasta with a spider ladle to the bowl of marinated tomatoes. Add a ladle or two of pasta water.  Drizzle with olive oil, check for seasonings and garnish with more basil, if desired.

Serve hot or at room temperature with mozzarella or goat cheese, if desired. 

Gemelli with Anchovies, Tomatoes and Mascarpone

On paper, this may seem like an odd mix. But in the finished dish, it is magic.

Gemelli with Anchovies, Tomatoes and Mascarpone comes together in mere minutes, and it uses staples from the pantry with some fresh grape tomatoes, flat leaf parsley and mascarpone thrown in.  I was thrilled to use up some of the dry vermouth that has been in my bar cabinet for a good 10 years.

If you have a fear of anchovies, I recommend you get over it. They really are a flavor enhancer in this dish. They just add that little salty spark that is oh so good.

This recipe comes from my fave Nigella Lawson. I hope you love it!

Here you go:

Gemelli with Anchovies, Tomatoes and Mascarpone

Serves 2

From "At my Table"

By Nigella Lawson

Gemelli pasta, 6 ounces

Salt for pasta water

1 Tbsp. olive oil

6 anchovy fillets, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

6 ounces (1 cup) cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup dry white vermouth

2 Tbsp. mascarpone cheese

1 Tbsp. plus more to serve Parmesan cheese

2 Tbsp. Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus more to serve

1. Put a saucepan of water on to boil for the pasta. (Although you don't need to start cooking your sauce until the pasta is in, I'd get everything ready for it while you wait.) Once it comes to a boil, salt generously and add the pasta. Check the pasta package for the advised cooking times, but do start tasting a good 2 minutes before you're told it should be ready.

2. Once the pasta is in, put the oil and the finely chopped anchovies into a heavy-based wok or, or other capacious pan, and cook, stirring over medium heat for about a minute, or until the anchovies have almost dissolved into the oil. Stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes, then turn up the heat a little and tumble in the tomatoes, stirring them gently for about 2 minutes, or until they are beginning to soften.

3. Pour in the vermouth, let it bubble up, then stir and push the tomatoes about in the pan for around another 2 minutes or until they have broken down a little in the thickened, reduced, now orange-tinted liquid. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the mascarpone and, when it's all melted into the sauce, duly stir in the Parmesan and parsley.

4. Before you drain the pasta, lower in a cup to remove some of the cooking water. Or use a mesh ladle or pasta claw to transfer the gemelli directly. Add a Tbsp. or so or the cooking water to the pasta sauce; this will help the sauce coat the pasta. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce and toss well to mix, adding more of the pasta cooking water if needed. Sprinkle with a little parsley and take the Parmesan to the table to serve. 

Homemade Tagliatelle with Romagnola Tomato Sauce

Making homemade pasta is a bit of a project. But I loved it. This dough is so soft and smooth. Very easy to work with. I busted out my pasta roller for the first time since buying it 15 years ago. Yay!

I went to the best - Lidia Bastianich. She explains things so clearly, so I thought for my first foray, it would be best to use her guidance. This group of tagliatelle I cooked:

While this group of tagliatelle nests, I froze for later use:

Tagliatelle are long flat ribbon noodles that work beautifully with a meat ragu or a pesto. The sauce I went with; however, is a beautiful Romagnola tomato sauce that features fresh in-season tomatoes. I hope you get to make this while the Jersey tomatoes are still in their prime for the next couple of weeks.

You can certainly make this sauce with storebought fresh tagliatelle, but if you do have the time and a pasta roller, I do recommend trying this recipe. The fresh pasta is a such a wonderful texture and flavor. We really enjoyed it. 

This sauce also features fresh rosemary and parsley, so it is a definite change from the classic marinara. 

 Homemade Tagliatelle

From "Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy"

By Lidia Bastianich

Makes 1 1/2 lbs. fresh tagliatelle, serving 6

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

3 large eggs (cold)

3 large egg yolks (cold)

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp. ice water, plus more as needed

Recommended equipment: A food processor fitted with steel blade; a pasta rolling machine

Put the flour in the bowl of the food processor and process for a few seconds to aerate. Mix the whole eggs and egg yolks, olive oil, and ice water in a measuring cup with a spout.

Start the machine running with the feed tube open. Pour in the liquids all at once (scrape in all of the drippings), and process for 30 to 40 seconds, until a dough forms and gathers on the blade. If the dough does not gather on the blade or process easily, it is too wet or too dry. Feel the dough and add either more flour or more ice water, in small amounts. Process briefly, until the dough gathers on the blade, and clear the sides of the bowl. 

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface, and knead by hand briefly until it's smooth, soft and stretchy. Press it into a disk, wrap well in plastic wrap, and let it rest at room temperature for 1/2 hour. (You can refrigerate this dough for up to a day, or freeze it for a month or more. Defrost frozen dough in the refrigerator; return it to room temperature before rolling).

To make tagliatelle: Cut the dough in six equal pieces. Keeping it lightly floured, roll each piece through the machine at progressively thinner settings into sheets that are 5 inches wide (or as wide as your machine allows) at at least 20 inches long. Cut the long sheets in half crosswise, giving you twelve strips, each almost a foot long.

One at a time, lightly flour each strip, and fold it over into thirds or quarters, creating a small rectangle with three or four layers of pasta. With a sharp knife, cut cleanly through the folded dough crosswise, at 1/2-inch intervals. Shake the cut pieces, opening them into long ribbons of tagliatelle. Dust them liberally with flour, gather into a loose nest, and set it on a floured towel or tray. Fold, cut and unfurl all the strips this way, piling the tagliatelle in small floured nests. Leave uncovered to air-dry at room temperature, until ready to cook (or freeze the nests on the tray until solid, and pack in airtight ziplock bags).

Tagliatelle with Romagnola Tomato Sauce

From "Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy"

By Lidia Bastianich

Makes sauce for 1 batch (1 1/2 pounds) tagliatelle or other pasta, serving 6

For the sauce

3 lbs. ripe tomatoes (round, plum, or cherry varieties are all fine)

4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

4 plump garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

1 sprig fresh rosemary (a short branch with lots of leaves)

1/2 tsp. peperoncino flakes, to taste

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley

For the pasta:

1 batch (1 1/2 pounds) homemade tagliatelle (see above)

1/2 cup or so freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for the table

2 Tbsp. or so extra virgin olive oil for finishing

Recommended equipment: A heavy-bottomed skillet or saute pan, 12-inch diameter or larger

For the sauce: Core the tomatoes, and cut them in half. With round or plum tomatoes, squeeze seeds into a sieve placed over a bowl - save the juices and discard the seeds - then chop the tomatoes into 3/4-inch pieces. Cherry tomatoes need only be cut in half.

Pour the olive oil into the big skillet, and set it over medium-high heat. Scatter the garlic slices in the pan, and heat for a minute or so, until they start sizzling. Toss in the rosemary sprig and peperoncino, let them heat for a few moments, then drop the tomato paste into a clear hot spot in the pan bottom. Toast the tomato paste for a minute, then pour in the chopped tomatoes, sprinkle on the salt and stir all together.

Cook the tomatoes for a couple of minutes, until the begin to release their liquid. Pour in the reserved tomato juices from the bowl, along with 1/2 cup of water (use it to slosh out the tomato bowl). Bring the sauce to a boil, then adjust heat to keep it perking steadily. Cook, uncovered, until tomatoes break down into a chunky sauce, about 10 to 12 minutes. When the sauce is done, stir in the parsley and turn off the heat (or keep it barely simmering if you are ready to cook the pasta).

To cook the tagliatelle: Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Shake the nests of tagliatelle in a colander or a strainer to remove excess flour. Drop all the pasta into the pot at once, and stir to loosen and separate the strands. Cover the pot, and return the water to a boil rapidly. Set the cover ajar, and cook the pasta, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or more, until barely al dente (it will cook a bit more in the sauce).

Have the tomato sauce at a simmer; if it has cooled and thickened, loosen it with a bit of the hot pasta-cooking water. Lift the tagliatelle from the cooking pot quickly, with a spider and tongs, drain briefly, and drop into the simmering ragu. Toss together, over low heat, for a minute or more, until all the strands are coated and perfectly cooked. Thin the sauce, if necessary, with hot pasta water, or thicken it quickly over higher heat.

Turn off the heat, sprinkle 1/2 cup or so of grated cheese over the tagliatelle, and toss well. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil all over and toss again. Heap the pasta in warm bowls, and serve immediately, passing more cheese at the table.