Week 9: Sausage Pasta

I collect recipes. I've been doing it for years and I am just now figuring out how to organize them. Whitnie got me a recipe binder and a recipe box for Christmas. The box now contains recipes that I have tried and I like. The binder, which holds fewer recipes, is reserved for the best recipes that I want to make pretty much every day. Then there are the 3-ring binders. Before I got the recipe books, I printed recipes (with pictures of course) and kept them in 3-ring binders. I have three. The first holds all of my desserts. I need an entire binder just for desserts. The next one is for entrees. The last one is all the cupcakes and muffins that came off my Cupcake-A-Day Calendar that my parents got me a few years ago. 

I was thumbing through my recipe collection Tuesday evening while making my grocery list and found this recipe. When I make my grocery list out, I like to pick recipes for about a week and a half. I find that produce lasts this long and that's about when I get bored with all the leftovers I've made from the previous week and need something new. I usually pick a poultry recipe, a pasta dish and then something vegetarian. There isn't a lot of red meat in my diet since I have some ethical issues with the red meat that is in our grocery stores. This week, the recipe I chose was simply called "Sausage Pasta." 

Sausage Pasta

originally from Let's Start Simple
serves 6

  

2 tsp crushed red pepper
olive oil
1 lb 6 oz coarse italian sausage, without casing
1 tbsp. oregano
1 cup of white wine
zest and juice of 1 Lemon
1 lb 2 oz fusilli or tortiglioni
2 tbsp. of Butter
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

A small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley

Heat some olive oil in a pan and add the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon*. Fry it until it's about half brown and then add red pepper flakes. Continue frying, until the meat is all browned. Add oregano** and white wine and let half the wine boil away. Turn down the heat and stir in lemon juice and zest. 

Cook your pasta al dente, according to package instructions or personal preference. When done, drain the pasta and toss with the sausage and sauce in your pan. Add Parmesan, butter and parsley. Mix until everything's evenly distributed on the pasta.

Serve with more pasta and fresh parsley.

*I use a  Pampered Chef tool called the "Mix 'N' Chop" to chop up my ground meat. It's awesome. (Thanks Mom!) I guess it's really good when making meatballs too because you can put all your spices and such into the meat and then mix them up with this guy.*

**Don't forget to wake up your spices if you're using dried ones. "Wake up spices! Flavor my food!"**