Sausage Primavera

Recently YouTube TV added several channels, including the Food Network. I watch a few shows on there (how could I resist?) and have been taking inspiration from it. Watching Beat Bobby Flay I was surprised to see the contestant add butter poached lobster to his pasta primavera. I had always thought of it as a strictly vegetarian dish, but why not add seafood, or even meat? Sausage is a much more practical choice for my family. My toddler loves it, it is much more budget friendly and the fat would add a ton of luscious flavor to the sauce. This dish is a combination of my sausage and broccolini pasta (although with different veggies) and Jamie Oliver’s excellent sausage zucchini carbonara. Next time I make it I plan on trying to find some fresh marjoram and using it in place of the dried herbs (see notes). With an extra bit of prepwork this dish comes together pretty quickly, so it’s a nice spring and summertime meal. Think of this dish as a starting point and use whatever veggies you have in the fridge and whatever kind of pasta your family enjoys. Just be sure to adjust cooking times as needed for each.

Sausage Primavera

Serves 6

1 lb sweet Italian pork sausage, casing removed
1 lb whole wheat penne
1 small yellow onion
8 ounces mushrooms
1 large zucchini
1 large summer squash
8 ounces grape tomatoes, whole
1/2 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano*
1/2 teaspoon dried basil*
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt, to taste
Fresh pepper, to taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 450. Rub the tomatoes with a bit of olive oil or spray oil, season with salt and pepper and lay on a baking sheet in a single layer. Chop all vegetables (except tomatoes) into roughly similar bite sized pieces. Roast tomatoes in oven for 12 minutes, or until they brown slightly on the bottom. Set aside. In a large heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, add olive oil, then sausage meat. Break up the sausage roughly. Cook sausage until it has no traces of pink. Scoop meat out of pan, leaving fat. Boil pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water, according to package directions. Meanwhile, in the pan with the sausage fat saute onions, mushrooms and squash in the fat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add dried herbs and crushed red pepper. Deglaze the pan with the wine and cook until vegetables are all cooked through. Turn off heat and add cream and tomatoes. Toss with pasta and serve with grated Parmesan cheese and minced Italian parsley.