2002-07-02 - 4:53 p.m.
Slow, slow week so far. I’ve got an article due yesterday, but I’m too busy shipping the August issue, and since this is the week before a major national holiday, no one I need to interview will be returning calls anyway. But hey, at least the freeways are relatively clear--what with all the useless terrorism alerts making everyone afraid to leave the house between now and July 5, and all.
Me, I’ll actually be quite surprised if anything terroristic happens this weekend at all. One thing that living in California--land of earthquakes, brush fires, floods, riots, locust plagues and O.J. Simpson--is that the likelihood of a disastrous event on a specific date is inversely proportional to the amount of handwringing in the weeks leading up to that date. Of course, I could be wrong--which is why I just covered my ass back there--but remember Y2K?
Anyhoo. I don’t have much to write about today, so I guess I’ll post a recipe. I’ve made this twice in the last week, with slightly different ingredients the second time because I ran out of mustard. I think the second time turned out better, but it’s your call.
Whole wheat pasta with sausage, mustard and caramelized onions
6 oz. spicy link sausage (I used some turkey sausage with jalapenos and jack cheese, courtesy of the Big Gay Ralphs)
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 large onions, cut into thin rings
1/2 lb. whole wheat pasta (the cookbook recommends fettuccini, but I used penne, which is all I had on hand and holds sauce better anyway)
2/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 tbsp. chopped parsley
1 tbsp. gourmet mustard (I was out of mustard the second time, so I substituted turmeric and it turned out yummy)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
Slice the sausage into thick rounds and fry in the oil for 4 minutes. Add the onion rings. Continue cooking, covered, stirring every so often as the onions start to soften.
Cook pasta in boiling water until it’s ... tender but firm ... al dente ... you know, done. Drain.
After about 15-20 minutes, when the onions are golden and caramelized and slightly burned at the edges, add the broth. Bring to a boil, using a spatula to scrape up all the nummy stuff stuck to the pan. Stir in the parsley and the mustard or turmeric. Pour over the pasta and enjoy. Serves 2.
***
|
 |