Wholewheat Fusilli ai Brussel Sprouts e Salsiccia

This was based on the Penne ai Rapini e Salsiccia recipe on p.116 and as this blog title suggested, I had substituted the broccoli rabe with brussel sprouts and penne with wholewheat fusilli. The highlight of this dish, however, was intended to be the salsiccia di maiale (homemade sausage; p.116). I had bought all the ingredients over a week ago except for dry white wine. I got the wine a couple days later, but with the help of a friend from Cork the wine disappeared before the sausage materialised..

For the sausage, I ended up not using any wine at all. Instead, I added a couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and that turned out pretty good. If I had prepared the sausage the same day I purchased the meat, the meat would have had time to marinate and I would have had the opportunity to separate the sausages into single-use portions. As it happened, I had to defrost the ground pork the same evening I cooked the pasta, meaning the meat had about one minute of marination time and I had to cook the entire pound. The large portion did not bother me as much as the possibility that that the sausage may have tasted much different had it had time to marinate. The sausage in the pasta ended up a little dry though I don't think the marination time had anything to do with it (?). Instead, I think the mince itself was a little lean and the sausage recipe had called for no fat (oil or butter); perhaps I will try mincing pork from a fattier cut (maybe the pork loin centre cut) next time. The flavor, however, was good.

As Hazan had intended, the sausage and the strong-tasting green complimented really well. And this is still the case even though I had substituted the rabe with brussel sprouts which are a little sweeter. Although 1/3 cup olive oil was added here to the sausage during cooking, it only coated but did not seep into the sausage and pasta. The result was such that the dish was a little greasy but dry. The dryness was probably also exacerbated by the wholewheat fusilli which has a rough texture.

Still, I liked it... enough that I am not complaining (yet) about the leftovers which will likely last for another three meals =P

fusilli al chorizo ragù

This dish was inspired by the Conchiglie Alla Salsiccia e Panna recipe on pg.125 of Hazan's book. Inspired because I didn't have, and couldn't use, all the ingredients as indicated, and after substituting shell with spiral pasta, Italian pork sausage with Spanish pork chorizo, fresh tomato with a can of peeled whole tomato, and heavy cream with soy milk, I created this dish.

Naively, I had thought the chorizo will only impart a different flavour, but my ignorance became blatantly obvious once I completed Step 1, which was to boil the sausage in water than slice them into thin rounds. I knew something was amiss when the sausage flopped back into the pot as I tried to take it out. The skin of the chorizo was very tough, which wasn't a problem in itself as I have just gotten a set of nice sharp knives, but the first pass of my knife through the floppy sausage pretty much indicated we would be having bolognese for dinner: the meat inside the sausage was no longer bound together, they just crumbled (oozed) out of the sausage skin.

A glass of wine in hand quickly dampened my initial urge to panic and vowed to never cook pasta again. Pass that, I was able to convince myself I have been subconsciously craving for bolognese for weeks ;-) So, I continued with the recipe as if nothing has gone wrong; i.e. I continued to follow the steps in Hazan's recipe knowing full well my dish will turn out to be a bolognese. As I continued along, I was able to further convince myself of my own brilliance, as my can of tomato turned out to be much more appropriate than whole tomatoes would have for making bolognese, and the spiral pasta was also perfect for this sauce.

All in all, I though the pasta turned out to be really good. The spiciness called for in the Salsiccia e Panna recipe was nicely accentuated by the inherent spiciness of the chorizos. It made a really nice winter dish. I think, I would make this again especially since it wasn't all that complicated (minus the blunder). Though I might try out a different sausage next time.. I am pretty sure the chorizos I had in the pass were far less crumbly.

This is the recipe I ended up with:

Spiral Pasta with Chorizo Bolognese
Ingredients
1lb (500g) fusilli pasta
1/2lb pork Chorizo sausage
2 Tbs butter
pinch of dried rosemary
1 can (6oz) can peeled whole tomato (diced) [ an extra fresh diced tomato for texture ]
pinch of dried red chili
pinch of salt
1/2 cup soy milk
1Tb finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup shaved parmigiano-reggiano

Preparation
1. Boil (uncut**) sausage in water for 2-3 mins. Remove from pot. Cut sausage in middle using sharp knife. Squish out sausage meat from skin through opening. Discard skins. [ ** If you cut them first the meat will spill out into the pot of water ]
2. Cook pasta according to manufacturer's instructions. Stir occasionally to prevent pasta from sticking to pan and to each other.
3. Melt butter in large pan over medium heat and cook sausage meat until much of the water from the meat evaporates and the meat begins to brown.
4. Add rosemary & tomatoes. Simmer to reduce tomato juice; or if fresh tomato was added, until they begin to break down; or for about 5mins.
5. Add chili and season lightly with salt ( taste before adding too much salt as chorizos tend be salty ). Stir in the soy milk and parsley. Keep stirring until milk has reduced by half. Remove from heat and set aside.
7. Once the pasta is cooked al dente, drain and toss into sauce in pan. Stir in the cheese.

Enjoy.