11/28/11
Breakfast: Oatmeal w/ strawberries
Exercise: 10 minutes jump rope, 10 minutes jumping jacks
Lunch: Bagel w/ smoked salmon and veggie cream cheese
Snack: Fiber One bar
Dinner: Chicken sausage wrap w/ Brussel sprouts
Snack: Wheat thins and one of those cake snack things you left me. Couldn’t resist <<;

Wasn’t planning on writing about tonight’s dinner but man, it was so good I just couldn’t pass it up! So I had some leftover Italian sausage that I was planning on making a simple throwaway pasta with some other extra ingredients. After all was said and done, it was probably one of the easiest pasta dishes I had made and one of the better tasting too. Though that may have been the wine talking. I’m not entirely sure yet. Again, wish I had taken pictures but I couldn’t bother trying to coerce my phone into working properly. Instead you’ll have to make due with a stock photo from the internet and your imagination!

Italian Sausage Pasta

Adapted from Peasant Pasta by Rachael Ray

• Olve oil
• 3 Italian sausage links
• 1/2 large onion, rough chop
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 28 oz crushed tomatos
• 1 package fresh basil, torn
• 1 tbsp sugar
• Fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano
• 1/4 cup heavy cream, room temperature
• 1/2 lb fettuccine

First start off with the sausages. Since I prefer things spicy I used hot Italian, but mild also works in this case. Begin by removing the casings from the sausage links. This can be done two ways. Running your knife along the surface of the sausage then peeling the casing off. Or the more fun way, just give the sausage a squeeze in the middle and work the meat out of one end. Repeat with the other half. After all the meat has been liberated, begin breaking it up by hand. If you don’t like touching raw meat or don’t mind a little extra work in the pan, you can skip this step.

Heat up a small amount olive oil in a nonstick pan then drop in the sausage. If you broke it up earlier, you don’t have to fidget with it much. If you didn’t, use a wooden spoon to separate the sausage. Once it’s gotten a nice crust on it, use a slotted spoon to take out the sausage and set aside. If done right, there will be lots of dark (but not burnt!) bits stuck to the pan along with oil secreted from the sausage. This is the where all the flavor is so do not empty the pan!

Drop the onions and garlic into the pan and cook until they’re soft. I had actually run out of garlic so instead I added some garlic powder later on which actually made me a little sad. Once soft, remove the pan from the heat and deglaze with the red wine. I used a 2007 Torres Sangre de Toro my mom had gotten me. Quite delicious and cheap. As the wine is deglazing the pan, scrape around with your wooden spoon to make sure all the brown bits have come off the bottom. Also make sure to pour yourself a glass or two if you haven’t already. Once the wine has reduced by half, mix in the crushed tomatoes and simmer.

After a few minutes of simmering, return the sausage to the pan and add in 3/4ths of your basil. I usually just tear it right over the pan to give it the nice rustic look. Also cause I already washed my cutting board and knife. This is also a good time to add a little bit of the grated parm, garlic powder (if you didn’t have fresh garlic), and the sugar to the sauce. The sugar helps cut down the acidity of the tomatoes. Let the sauce simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes. In the mean time, cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Make sure the water is well salted!

Once the sauce is done simmering, add in the cream and the rest of your basil. Drop in your pasta, mix well, add more parm, and you’re all set! Sprinkle on some crushed red pepper flakes if you want more heat. Best served with garlic bread and a glass of the red wine you used earlier.

Really loved how it turned out. Will definitely be my go-to dish whenever I want a simple pasta dish.

So I made dirty risotto yesterday and had quite a bit leftover. Now we all know that leftover risotto is horrible. Gummy, mushy nastiness. Pondered a bit and came up with the idea of risotto cakes! Thought up a decent procedure and was excited to try it out the next day. First began by adding extra sausage to it cause, c’mon, who doesn’t like sausage? Then some flour, an egg, and chives. Mixed it together by hand and thought it was still a little too loose so added some more. Then it was too sticky so I was all oh crap. Added a little bit more flour then tried my best to form it into a patty shape. Made two this was then coated them with panko and fried them up! The leftovers I added some broken up crackers then did the same.

Oh my god. They were amazing. Still a little gummy but you might actually mistake that for cheesiness. Wolfed down three and gave the last to my roommate. Man it feels great to make something good without following a recipe even if it was fairly simple. Though the next time I make them I may do a different procedure. Possibly just a simple breading station since the risotto is already thick. Sadly though I was only able to get one picture. Didn’t even think about snapping one while making it and I ate them way too fast to get anything better. Once I get a better camera I’ll be more responsible about that. Right now I’m just feeling things out anyway.

Man I want more..

Possibly just made one of the best sandwiches ever. Was trying to figure out something different I could do with my extra chili yesterday and went through several iterations of possibilities. On noodles, with eggs, on toast. The last one stuck with me a bit so I pondered it over a little more. My thoughts led me to the wondrous grilled cheese and eureka! I’m a fairly good expert at making grilled cheeses so adding a little chili to the mix shouldn’t be too difficult. While I’m sure a grilled chili cheese sandwich isn’t a culinary breakthrough it was still fun thinking it up on my own.

So today I set upon making this chili cheese sandwich. Started off normally with two 3/4” slices of bread, melted a tbsp of butter in a nonstick pan, then stuck one side of one slice into the melt butter and set it aside. Put the other slice into the butter which will become the base of the sandwich. Spooned some already warmed up leftover chili onto the bread and topped that with some fresh cut onions. Then topped with two 1/4” slices of colby jack cheese and placed the other slice butter side up on top. Added a tsp. of water to the pan to help the cheese melt faster then covered with a lid. After the bottom side got nice and crispy but not burnt, I had to flip the sandwich over. Ended up using a spatula to lift the sandwich out of the pan, inverted the pan onto the sandwich, then in one motion flipped the sandwich and pan at the same time. Nothing spilled out so it worked pretty well. Added another dash of water then covered again. Once the cheese was melted and the bread properly toasted it was done! Wish I had some awesome pictures to show it off, but sadly I do not. It was definitely very, very tasty even taking into account that the chili wasn’t my best. Will make again for sure.
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