Sunday, October 26, 2008

Fettuccine with Greens and Sausage


This is hands down, one of my favorite quick and easy fall/winter/early spring comfort meals. I generally use either kale or collard greens in this recipe. Both are equally good. I suppose you could also use chard or any other heavy (not like lettuce-type) green you want. I like using the spinach fettuccine that comes tangled up in a bag (not the straight pasta kind---more like the noodles kind. The pasta kind would be fine I am sure though).

To make this dish, bring a large salted pot of water to a boil. Wash, remove stems and very coarsely chop 1 pound of kale (or any greens). Cook in boiling water for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large skillet brown 1 pound bulk (pan) sausage. Drain fat. Once kale has cooked for 5 minutes, remove from pot with a large sieve. Keep the water in the pot and return it to a boil. Drain the excess water from the kale and add it to the cooked sausage. Once the water has returned to a boil, add the fettuccine. Cook the fettuccine until al dente and the kale until it is just barely tender. Drain the fettuccine and add to the sausage and kale along with 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese. Heat through. Serve and top with extra parmesan cheese.

Curtis and I love this dish (as I may have stated earlier). If the pasta looks a little dry once it has been added to the sausage/kale, you can add 1/4 - 1/2 c chicken broth or water. I generally don't, but the original recipe calls for it. M had two servings of this tonight---even ate the kale. We were shocked, but are attributing it partly to the fact that it was the first real meal she ate in over a day (she had a slight flu). J loved the sausage and emptied the pasta and kale off of his plate in search of more sausage. Silly boy.

No comments: