Welcome to the Cooking (*cough, better, cough*) portion of BN&CN. This post is a product of both the weather and ease - a chilly, dreary, rainy summer day had us stuck in doors and laziness got the better of us as far as getting special ingredients and getting out of the house. Taking a look in the kitchen, we didn't have much but always have a few staple veggies around. Brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, and onions are always on hand because of their versatility and adaptability to a lot of different dishes, and quite frankly they're trendy AF. This time, I was feeling creative so I decided to do more than just chop them up and throw them in a taco (one of our staple meals). Looking at some of the other things we had hiding in the pantry, we had chopped pecans, fusilli pasta, and some handmade pork sausage that I picked up as a Prime deal the other day at Whole Foods - so we went with that.
The initial plan was to combine the veggies (I chopped the onion & sweet potatoes, and ran the brussels through a food processor), pecans, olive oil and some spices to make a tapenade/hash to go with the pasta. As I stared cooking, I felt like the earthiness of the veggies needed some extra spice to bring out more flavor in the dish. I ended up going with cinnamon and red pepper flakes to bring some dimension to the plate, and round out the warmth of the dish. An extra does of olive oil and balsamic vinegar helped bring it all together with the pasta. The vegetarian version of the dish (for my wife) ended there, but for those looking for extra protein - I sautéed and and sliced the sausage and threw it in to the dish. Personally, I felt like I had the wrong flavor of sausage (white wine and shallots) and would opt for bacon next time, but you gotta work with what you got.
Overall: ★★★☆ (3.5/5) - this ranking would jump to a solid 4 with the added salty/savory flavor of bacon)
Recipe Below (serves 2-4):
-brussell sprouts (8-10 medium)
-sweet potato (1 large)
-red onion (1/2 large)
-fusilli (1lb)
-chopped pecans (1/2-2/3 cup)
-olive oil (3 tbsp for vegetables, 3 tbsp for the pasta)
-balsamic vinaigrette (2tbsp)
-cinnamon (2tsp)
-crushed red peppers (1tsp)
-cumin/salt/pepper to taste
-sausage and/or bacon (1/2lb)
No comments
Post a Comment