After I set a pot full of salted cold water on high heat, I like to start with the prep. The key to a quick recipe is having bowls ready to place items into. I am an inherent scatterbrain, and also a little bit OCD when it comes to having my ingredients in order:
I picked up these Chicken Sausages from Aldi's. They're 9 grams of fat for one link. I used 2 for this recipe, but you could use more as this recipe was only enough to serve 2:
Looks promising...
A Trader Joe's favorite of mine is their jarred Roasted Red Peppers. I know that sausage, peppers and onions are a classic pairing, but onions and peppers are my least favorite vegetables. But I do love roasted red peppers and their beautiful piquancy,so I went with them. Don't no one got time to roast their own peppers at 8 PM after a full work day.
While I chop other things, I like to set the peppers out on paper towel to drain off some of the excess moisture, since they are packed in water.
After I am done chopping the sausage into coins, I roughly chop up the peppers. Since they will both go into the saute together, I put them together in a bowl.
When that's done and set aside, I do this other thing...which results in much delightful anticipation:
(Don't worry, I only used 1 tablespoon of butter! And also 4 cloves of garlic. Less or more if you want.)
I then get the pasta started. For this, I used whole wheat spaghetti which takes around 10 minutes to cook. Here's a picture of pasta in boiling water for your viewing pleasure!
Then...it begins...the beautiful and brisk dance that is a saute, requiring perfect timing and an agility unrivaled by world-renowned ballerinas. This is my choreography:
-I heat a skillet on medium-high heat for around 2-3 minutes until it is hot.
-I add 1 tbsp of oil (more if you aren't using butter later. Although the sausage and peppers have a lot of moisture on their own, so you can get away with less in this case)
-I add in a handful of chopped of onion (mine comes pre-chopped and from the freezer, so no fancy pics here.)
-I let them sing their siren song for 2 minutes or so, while I ready myself for the heat of the dance.
-I then add :the sausage, peppers, and 1/2 of the chopped garlic. I dance them around as they saturate each other and perfect their medley. It looks like this:
The initial sizzle may have worn off, but they will continue to heat, and their song becomes soft and low for awhile. But even soft songs can have a crescendo, and this crescendo will be brought to you by:
I used vermouth here. You can use white wine or dry sherry too. Turn down the heat to medium/low, and pour it in. Prepare for a sudden burst of frenzied song and dance! Just go with it, let it spin you and look at it right in it's mad, dizzying face. Stir it around and make sure all the pieces are coated and moist with the liquid as it prepares for it's next slow twirl.
I then add: 1 tbsp of butter, the rest of the garlic from earlier, salt and pepper, 1 tsp of crushed reds... and how could one ever forget that some of the very best dances are born of bittersweet revenge...
I can nearly smell it through the screen. (about 1 tbsp should do.)
Your skillet should now look like this, and also smell so good you can't stand it.
Let it cook until the liquid reduces a bit, the dance slows and the song fades. I'm assuming that you've used the sensibilities I requested earlier, and drained the pasta by now, The end result should look something like this:
The best thing about this recipe is that it isn't as strict as a Waltz. You can add your own steps in however you want...different proteins, vegetables, herbs and spices to make up your Very Own Dance. Also, it takes less time to make it than it did for me to come up with incessant song and dance analogies, and it probably turns out better too.
Pasta with Chicken Sausage in White Wine Sauce
serves 2
-1 lb of your choice of pasta
-2-3 links of sausage (I used Aldi's Chicken Sausage with Spinach and Feta)
-1/2-1 whole jar of roasted red peppers, packed in oil or water is fine.
-handful of chopped onion
-4 cloves of garlic
-1 tbsp of butter
-1/2 cup of white wine
-1 tbsp of lemon juice
-1 tsp crushed red peppers
-salt and pepper to taste
