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