Sausage & Basil Pasta with Spicy Mustard Sauce

This recipe evolved when I asked myself what to do with all the basil growing out back and I already had enough frozen pesto. This fits in to the same category of the sausage and broccoli recipe I previously posted, but with a light cream sauce and fresh herbs instead of veggies.  I still consider this a lighter pasta because there is no cheese, not a lot of cream, and it calls for turkey sausage.

Ingredients:
2 cups medium shell pasta, uncooked
1 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb turkey Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 cup dry white wine or sherry
1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
3 Tbs country Dijon (or any "grainy" mustard)
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Directions:
Boil water in a large pot and cook pasta until al dente and strain.  While cooking pasta, heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into pieces with a spatula or spoon until browned and juices form (approx. 8 minutes.)  Add the wine and simmer until mostly reduced (approx. 5 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add cream, mustard and crushed red pepper.  Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the skillet from heat and add the pasta and basil.  Toss to coat and serve hot.

Lobster Tails Thermidor

Ingredients:

1 to 1 ½ pounds raw lobster tails
4 Tbs butter, divided
1 shallot or small white onion, finely chopped
2 Tbs all-purpose flour
¼ cup sherry or dry white wine
½ cream or half and half
1 Tbs Dijon or spicy mustard
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Creole seasoning or paprika

Prepare lobster:  Bring water in a large pot to boil.  In order to keep the lobster tail from curling during cooking, insert a skewer lengthwise under the membrane to hold it straight.  Add the lobster tails to water and boil for 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove the lobster tails from the water and place in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.  Use scissors to cut away membrane from underside of shells.  Carefully remove all the meat and save the shells.  Cut the meat in to small pieces and set aside.

 
Prepare sauce:  Bring both a medium skillet and small saucepot to medium heat.  Melt 2 Tbs of butter to saucepot, add shallot and cook for 3 – 5 minutes.  Melt 2 Tbs of butter in the skillet and sauté lobster meat while preparing the rest of the sauce.  Preheat your broiler to high.

  Gradually stir flour in to the saucepot.  Add wine and lemon juice, whisk, and simmer for 3 minutes.  Then add milk and mustard.  Whisk together.  Remove sauce from heat and stir in cheese and Creole seasoning or paprika.  Once the liquid has cooked off the lobster meat, pour sauce in to skillet and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.  

 Arrange the lobster shells in a shallow casserole dish.  Scoop mixture in to shells and top with more cheese if desired.  Broil on high for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve on bed of mixed baby greens (the bitterness of the greens really completes the palate of this dish.)

Spicy Calamari with Chorizo - Calamares a La Plancha

This recipe was inspired by an apetizer I had in a Basque restaurant in San Franciso.  The calamari is not breaded, but essentially stir fried with a number of robust ingredients.  I looked up various recipes for this traditional Spanish tapa and threw together my own creation below:

Ingredients:

1. 6 - 8 lbs of calmari rings and tenticles (tubes can easily be cut in to rings)
2. 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
3. 1 Tbsp kalamata olives, chopped
4. 2.5 oz chorizo
5. 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
6. 4 tsp. minced garlic
7. 1/2 tsp. salt
8. 1 crushed red pepper
9. 1/4 lemon, juiced
10. A few pinches of sage and oregano.

Directions:

Thouroughly rinse the calamari and look for any remaining pieces of the spine bone.  Pat dry to remove all moisture.  Combine ingredients 5 through 10 in a mixing bowl. Mix calamari in to with the marinade and let sit for 5 minutes.

  

In the meanitime, heat a small skillet with a little oil on medium-high.  Add the chorizo and cook, breaking it up into pieces with a spatula or spoon until browned and juices form (approx. 8 minutes.)  Transfer to a plate and set aside.  Hint: spraying the spoon or spatula with non-stick cooking spray will prevent the sausage from sticking to the utesil.

Heat a 10-inch cast iron pan to high temperature with a little bit of oil.  Add calamari mixture to the pan in a single layer.  Cook on medium-high until most of the moisture has evaporated.  Fold in the chorizo and serve hot.

Mabo Don

“Mabo” is a Japanese dish with tofu and ground pork in a spicy ginger sauce.
  

“Don” means "rice bowl" in Japanese. So anything served with rice in a bowl is called a don.

This is a wonderful, savory dish that is actually very easy to cook.  Don’t let the number of ingredients intimidate you.  Prepare and portion out everything before cooking.  All the work is in the prep.  Everything else just falls together.

Prep time 20 – 30 mins

Cook time 15 – 20 mins

Ingredients:

• ·         1 package firm tofu (approx 350g)                                                           
• ·         ½ pound ground pork
• ·         5 green onions
• ·         1 tbs cooking oil
• ·         2 cloves of garlic, finely minced or crushed
• ·         1 small piece of ginger, minced (or 1 tsp crushed ginger)
• ·         1tsp sugar
• ·         3 tbs soy sauce (substitute oyster or black bean sauce proportionately)
• ·         1 cup chicken broth
• ·         3 tbs rice wine
• ·         1 tbs sesame oil
• ·         1 tsp corn starch – dissolved in 2 tbs water
• ·         2 tsp crushed red pepper
• ·         1 tsp sriracha

Cooking Instructions:

1. Thoroughly drain tofu and dice in to ½ inch pieces
2. Finely slice green onions
3. Heat cooking oil in wok or skillet on high
4. Add garlic and ginger.  Stir until fragrant (if using crushed ginger, wait and add with next step)
5. Add ground pork and stir fry until brown.  While pork is cooking, add soy sauce, sugar, and half of the sliced green onions.
6. Once the pork is cooked and broken in to very small pieces, add tofu, broth, rice wine, peppers, and sriracha (if using oyster or black bean sauce, add during this step)
7. Stir and simmer until sauce is mostly absorbed.  Then add sesame oil and corn starch to thicken the sauce.

Serving:

Serve over rice in a bowl and garnish with the remaining green onions.

Variants:

Some recipes include peas, mushrooms, green beans, or bell peppers.

Orecchiette Pasta with Turkey Sausage and Broccoli Rabe (Rabini)

This is a classic Italian "no-sauce" pasta.  Light, hearty, and spicy.  Orchiette pasta can be hard to find, so I've found medium shells make a good substitute.  Broccoli rabe (rabini) can be bitter, so use regular broccoli for milder flavor.  Serves 4, but recipe can be doubled for more servings.

Ingredients:

2 bunches broccoli rabe (substitute regular brocolli)
1 pound orecchiette pasta (substitute medium shells)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

Directions:

1) If using broccoli rabe, just cut the stems off.  If using regular broccoli, cut the heads in to small florets.  Cook the broccoli in a large pot of boiling, salted water until tender, but crisp (approx 1 minute.)  Use a slotted spoon or fry net to transfer the broccoli to a large bowl of ice water to cool, saving the cooking water. Bring the reserved cooking water back to a boil.

2) Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into pieces with a spatula or spoon until browned and juices form (approx. 11 minutes.) Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and saute until fragrant (approx. 2 minutes.)

Strain broccoli from ice water when cooled ans set aside.  When the reserved cooking water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally (approx. 8 minutes.)  Strain water.

3) Add broccoli to the pan with the sausage mixture and toss to coat with the juices. Add the pasta to the skillet. Stir in the Parmesan and serve immediately.  Garnish with more Parmesan if desired.