Monday, March 27, 2006

3 down, 362 to go



Elbows with Sausage and Mushrooms, Carbonara Style
365 Ways to Cook Pasta Copyright 1988

8 ounces sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing and crumbled
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped red or green bell pepper
2 cups diced (1/2-inch) trimmed mushrooms (about 6 ounces)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
3 eggs
¼ cup grated Romano cheese
2 cups elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley I used dried since my fresh parsley looked past it's prime

1. Brown sausage in medium skillet, about 8 minutes; transfer to a sieve to drain off the fat; reserve sausage.
2. Add olive oil to the skillet; heat over medium heat. Sauté the onion, red or green bell pepper and mushrooms in the oil, stirring frequently until vegetables are tender and lightly browned. Add the garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add the sausage; season with salt and pepper. Keep warm over low heat.
3. Beat the eggs and the cheese in a large serving bowl; set aside.
4. Cook the elbows in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente, or firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain.
5. Add the hot elbows, the sausage mixture, and the parsley to the beaten eggs. Stir slowly until blended and creamy. Serve with extra cheese to sprinkle on each serving.

This wasn't bad but it definitely was not as good as the Linguine Carbonara I made last month. I made this because I had everything on hand to make this dish but now that I look at that other recipe, I realize I could have made that too, if I had picked up a box of linguine.

My contributions to Sweetnick's ARF/5-A-Day Tuesdays have been weak, due to poor planning. But once again, even though this didn't look like a nutritional powerhouse to me, a little bit of research shows me that mushrooms are actually quite nutritious. They're rich is selenium and some B-vitamins. Red peppers, onions and garlic all have benefits too.

This is the third recipe I've tried from this cookbook. It's really is a nice little book. I'd love to get my hands on the chicken version someday.

Question of the Day: How often do you eat pasta?

4 comments:

The Cookbook Junkie said...

I try to make pasta the main meal only once each week. Although I don't always stick to that since there are so many good pasta recipes out there.

Anonymous said...

I love pasta but don't have it
very often, since I'm trying to
watch my carbs. How I wish it
were carb-free!

Anonymous said...

I would eat pasta every day if my hips could handle it.I'm certain there must be some Italian buried deep in my blood somewhere.We usually have it once a week,though.

Randi said...

I think a couple times a week. Im out of that low carb penne and I keep forgetting to see if its on sale when I go to MI. They dont sell it here.