Cook the Book: Pasta with Peas, Sausage, and Mint
As the week winds on, Eric Gower, the author of The Breakaway Cook, keeps impressing me with the simple but delicious-sounding recipes in this book. I haven't cooked his Pasta with Peas, Sausage, and Mint yet, but rest assured, I'm adding it to my recipe collection and will probably use mango sausage, as Gower recommends, when I cook it (which will probably be for dinner tonight).
Pasta with Peas, Sausage, and Mint
- serves 4 -
Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 fresh garlic clove, minced
4 cups frozen baby peas
Zest and juice of 1 lemon, preferably Meyer
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup chopped fresh mint
1 pound linguine (or other pasta)
1 cup chopped fresh sausage (about 1/2 pound)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Procedure
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter with the olive oil in a chef's pan or wok over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté, shaking the pan occasionally, until softened, 3 or 4 minutes.
3. Add 3 cups of peas to the onion-garlic mixture, stir, and add the lemon juice. Continue to cook for 10 minutes, until the peas are thoroughly warmed.
4. Add the chicken stock; bring to a boil. Turn off heat, transfer mixture to a blender (in batches, if needed), and pulse until coarsely puréed. Add the mint and purée. Return the purée to the pan and keep warm over low heat.
5. Cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente. While pasta cooks, sauté the sausage in a separate small pan until crisped at the edges and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain cooked pasta; transfer to a large serving bowl. Thoroughly mix in the sauce. Taste for salt, and top with the sausage and cheese.
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4 Comments:
hmm. mango sausage and meyer lemon? not so simple from where i'm sitting.
carriebwc at 2:44PM on 08/08/07
Carriebwc: Yeah. I guess the technique is simple, if you can find the ingredients. I'll probably have to go to a specialty market to find the Meyers and the sausage.
Adam Kuban at 3:25PM on 08/08/07
I'm assuming that's the Aidells chicken sausage with mango that's currently being sold at my local Costco (and scaring me away)...? Ugh.
Otherwise, it sounds YUMMY!
Curlz at 6:53PM on 08/08/07
I just made this and it did not work. The sauce came out like a paste. the proportions are a bit off. I would add 2 cups of chicken stock to 4 cups of peas.
cdinic at 10:51PM on 12/08/07