Day 16: Pasta with Spicy Sausage and Spinach

This was supposed to be Sunday's meal. Tonight was supposed to be stuffed flank steak, but even though I have a Masters in Education and taught high school English for 6 years* I cannot read a recipe to save my life. I totally overlook the important words like, "thaw," "cook," "let stand." Well, when I read the flank steak recipe at 3:30 pm and saw that I needed cooking string and a pan with a rack, I had to rearrange my weekly menu. 1) I know I could have used toothpicks instead of string, but I was skeptical as to how well it would hold a 1 1/2lb stuffed steak. 2) My pan with rack is in the garage on a shelf above my car labeled "kitchen shit I've never used." No, it doesn't really say that, but it should. My $100 Calphalon pan got put in the garage about 2 years ago when we were cleaning all the junk around our house thinking we were going to put the house on the market. I hadn't used the pan yet and figured I wouldn't need to before we moved. Two years later and still had no need for the pan...until now. Paul got home at 4:00 and needed to be at a softball game by 6pm, so I knew there was no time to go digging for the pan tonight, but don't worry I will be christening my pan later this week.

So that explains why tonight was pasta night instead. This recipe came from my most recent issue of Woman's Day. I thought it sounded good and had a lot of the ingredients my family likes. If Austin can't have broccoli than he wants noodles.

Pasta with Spicy Sausage and Spinach
1lb pasta(it calls for gemelli, but I couldn't find it)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1lb spicy Italian Sausage,casings removed
1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
10 oz fresh baby spinach
Grated Parmesan

Step 1: Boil pasta as package directs

Step 2: Meanwhile, heat oil over med heat in skillet. Add onion and saute just before it begins to brown.

Step 3: Add sausage to skillet and crumble with a spoon until browned(cooked). About 4 minutes

Step 4: Add chicken broth, stirring to dissolve brown bits. Stir in cream and nutmeg. Simmer 1minute and remove from heat.

Step 5: Place spinach in colander;drain pasta over spinach(spinach will wilt).

Step 6: Return pasta and spinach to pot and pour sauce/sausage mixture over it. Toss and serve with Parmesan on top.

Kitchen Play by Play: I couldn't find gemelli pasta, so I bought rotini instead. Because pasta grows on your plate, and I knew we'd have a ton of leftovers, I cut the recipe in half(really just the sausage and the noodles). This was ridiculously easy. I actually delighted in removing the sausage from the casing. Does that make me sick?? It was really cool! I used mild sausage instead of hot because I'm weak and, it needed to be Austin friendly. It was also very cool to watch the spinach wilt before my eyes. It's amazing how little 10 oz is when cooked. Dinner was on the table in 15 minutes. And again, another all in one meal:veggie, meat, starch and a little dairy.

The finished product

The Verdict:
Nicole- I didn't like it. In fact, I had leftover pizza from Peyton's baptism instead. Don't get me wrong, it was edible. It just had little to no flavor. Though you add cream to the sauce, it doesn't thicken so nothing sticks to the noodles.This was not an error on my part, the picture shows watery sauce. I thought that maybe the noodles are what made the difference, but I would think that Rotini would accept sauce more not reject it. The only real flavor was the sausage. With a little tweaking, I'd probably give it a 2.

Paul-gives it a 2. Sauce was too thin, and it lacked a little flavor.

Austin- ate the noodles, but why wouldn't he? They were basically plain noodles.

* I cannot believe I just admitted to being an English teacher. Now I'm going to have to make sure I have perfect grammar and spelling. Nah, I'm retired(for now), so deal with the mistakes :)