Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Adventure 4: Pasta Sauce from scratch

Creamy Jambalaya Pasta
 
I've always cooked pasta from the box and out of a jar.  Typically I add salt, pepper, and maybe some oregano, but that's about it.  The problem with this is there's only so many times a person can eat spaghetti or alfredo before starting to get sick of it.  Pinterest to the rescue!  One of my friends came across this post and said I should give it a try.  It looked amazing so I thought I would give it a try.


Ingredients:
1 box bowtie pasta (1 lb)
1 smoked sausage
1 cup half and half
4 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped onion
3 teaspoons cajun seasoning
3 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup white wine (chardonnay)
8 tablespoons tomato sauce

Directions:
Boil water for pasta, add salt and a dash of olive oil.  Boil the pasta until al dente.

Brown sausage in a skillet until browned.  I set the sausage aside so it doesn't get soft.  If there's a lot of grease in the pan take a paper towel and soak it up.  Add onion and saute for about two minutes, add garlic and cook until you can smell it (about 30 seconds).  Add white wine to the skillet and scrape up any of the brown bits from the bottom.  Let the wine reduce by half (3 minutes or so).

Stir in the cajun seasoning, paprika, salt, pepper, tomato sauce, and cream.  Heat until almost bubbling then reduce the heat to low.  Allow the cream mixture to reduce by half (about 10 minutes).

Toss pasta with sauce, add cheese, and I completely forgot the parsley but add that too.

Results:
I really liked the pasta, it tasted great.  I threw in a dash of crushed red peppers for a little extra heat.  My one issue was the sauce was really soupy.  I doubled the original recipe because I wanted to make sure I had enough for lunches the next day, but in doing that the sauce wasn't the right thickness.  Taste was awesome though, I may try playing around with it next time and cut the half and half and/or wine.


PS - After refrigerating and reheating for lunch the sauce was the perfect consistency - not too soupy, not to thick. :)

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