Thursday, February 23, 2006

Just an average dish



Whole Wheat Spaghetti With Sausage and Peppers
Food and Wine Magazine’s Quick From Scratch Pasta Cookbook Copyright 1996, 2001, 2002, 2004

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound mild or hot Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
2 red bell peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 ¾ teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree
1 cup canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
2 tablespoons dry vermouth or dry white wine I used red wine
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley it's in there but I can't see it in the picture
¾ pound whole-wheat spaghetti I used Dreamfields linguine
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over moderate heat. Add the sausage and cook, turning, until browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Remove. When the sausage is cool enough to handle, cut it into ½-inch slices.
2. Add the onion, peppers, and ¾ teaspoon of the salt to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 3 minutes longer. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, broth, vermouth, the reserved sausage and any accumulated juices, the parsley, and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt and bring to a simmer.
3. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the spaghetti until done, about 12 minutes. Drain and toss with the sausage and pepper mixture and the Parmesan. Serve with additional Parmesan.

Serves 4.

This was okay but I really prefer my sausage slow-cooked for a long time. I should have just freestyled this but it wasn't like this was awful or anything. My son ate an unsual (for him) amount of this (just the pasta and sauce). I used Dreamfields because I really prefer it to the whole wheat pasta. I thought I had enough of the spaghetti but I didn't so I used linguine instead.

I wasn't going to make this unless I found red peppers on sale. I just refuse to pay $3.99 for them anymore. Quite often one supermarket I shop at has big bags of them for under $1.50, usually mixed with green, yellow, or orange peppers but this time they had all red. I got about 6 peppers for less than I would pay for one pepper at regular price. Yay!

Okay, I'm not even going to look into any of my Food and Wine Quick From Scratch books for a a couple of weeks since I'm sure everyone is getting sick of them. Between trying to lose weight and trying to work with what I have on hand, it's been a little boring around here and probably will be for a bit longer.

Question of the Week: Do you buy marked down produce and/or meat?

6 comments:

The Cookbook Junkie said...

I want to do a little dance whenever I see a good markdown on produce or meat (the only foods that really get marked down in my supermarkets). I won't buy anything too sad looking, of course. I have a Foodsaver so any meat goes right in the freezer.

I picked up a package of about 15 jalapeños for 33 cents last night. I didn't need them but I thought what the heck, it's worth getting excited about the possibilities for only 33 cents.

Randi said...

You can chop them up and freeze them. That's what I do with peppers. I have bags of yellow, red, orange peppers all diced up in the freezer, ready to go into soups, stews, chili's. The more I save on groceries, the more profit I make since I cook for a living. I buy lots of reduced produce. A couple days ago, I got almost 2lbs of shiitake mushrooms for 1.99. They're normally 9.99lbs here. I used some and froze them. Hopefully they'll be ok after I defrost them. I get most excited at reduced avocado's. I can't believe its cheaper here than in california. Of course no one really buys them, thats why I can get 5 for 99 cents. I freeze those too.

Randi said...

btw, did you ever answer my question about the crumb cake? Was the amount of butter in the cake correct?

The Cookbook Junkie said...

Randi,
Yes, I thought I answered it in two places. The butter amount is correct. I have no idea what the point of 1 tablespoon of butter is. The sour cream is providing the fat in that recipe.

Mona said...

i love whole wheat pasta. it's all i eat now (except i never ask for it in restaurants). thanks for a fun new recipe!

Cyndi said...

I just bought a Foodsaver, and will definitely be using it on meat specials. I WILL buy marked-down meat, usually beef and pork, but not chicken. I don't like the smell of out-of-date chicken, and I'm afraid of it. I definitely buy marked-down produce--there are some great buys at the vegetable store in Yucaipa all the time.

Could you do me a favor and check out my blog for the problem I mentioned on food sc'ool? I think you may have pinpointed the problem, but I need you to check. I found a piece of code that was after all the other recipe categories, but not after the camping recipes one. You said that it's been about a week or so since the problem surfaced, which is when I added that category. Let me know if I fixed it. Please.