In order to streamline the week's cooking, and try to prevent decision making at the end of the day when I'm too tired to think, I like to plan out the week's menu. Today I'd planned to make chicken soft tacos, a decision reached when we were enjoying warm, sunny weather here in New England. As is so often the case with our spring, that warm weather was fleeting. Instead, today was one of those cold, wet, raw days that belongs to November and not to nearly-April. The sort of day that calls for hearty, warm, comforting food and not a light, summery, chicken taco. There isn't anything I can do to change this weather into the spring-like weather I'm craving, but I can at least make a dinner that fits this not-yet-spring day.
From my craving for hearty, warm, comforting food to combat the cold weather comes this healthy pasta dish with a quick red sauce. My cupboard seems to collect the tail ends of pasta boxes, that little bit of pasta that's leftover when a full pound of pasta just seems like too much. Rather than throw it away, I've taken to calling it Mixed Pasta and using it all at once in a pasta jumble.
12 ounces whole wheat pasta (remember this is using up leftover pasta, so the shape doesn't matter)
1.5 pounds Italian sausage, removed from casing
2 (28 ounce) cans whole tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 ounces sun dried tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
2-4 garlic cloves, finely diced
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or more, depending on taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Start the pasta water boiling while removing the Italian sausage into a hot pan (set the stove at about medium-high). If the sausage seems to be a little fatty (if it isn't lean turkey sausage) lightly cover the bottom of the pan with salt before adding the sausage. The salt will pull the fat from the sausage so that it cooks without the addition of additional fat. Break the sausage into crumbles and when it is about halfway cooked, add the diced onion, garlic, and sun dried tomatoes. Saute until the onion begins to soften and the sausage is cooked through, about 5 minutes. By this point the pasta water should be boiling rapidly, add 2 tablespoons of salt to the pasta water and the pasta. Stir to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Going back to the sausage, lower the heat to medium and mix in the tomato paste. Once the tomato paste is incorporated, add the tomatoes and stir into the mix, using the back of your spoon to break up the tomatoes. Add the spices, salt and pepper, if the sauce is a little to acidic from the tomatoes, add one to two pinches of sugar to the sauce. The sugar will cut the acidity, but you shouldn't be able to actually taste that you have added sugar. Then check to see if the pasta is done; the pasta should not be crunchy but should have a firmness (the firmer the pasta, the lower it's glycemic index). Mix the pasta into the sauce, sprinkle some shaved Parmesan over the pasta and enjoy! Bon Appetit!
