One Pan Pasta with Chicken & Hot Links

It all started with a "one pan pasta" recipe from Martha Stewart.
Hmmm, I'm game. Almost sounds like Hamburger Helper, Martha!
I found something new that I like about you.

OK... I know some of you could go all snobby on me, and all that, for this type of recipe.
But, really who hasn't wanted to just slam dinner on the table occasionally and make all those people stop whining.  
Well, maybe this is your new "go to" recipe. 
I think you could customize it depending on what you have on hand. 
I just happened to have a whole bunch of Hot Links on hand (somebody went to Costco...) and some cooked chicken (thank you again Costco rotisserie chicken).  
So, of course, that is what my recipe includes.

I'm thinking you could have any number of things on hand that would make a good version; ham, shrimp (frozen), pork chops (cut up), chicken (raw, but cut small), shredded beef... or dare I say it, cooked hamburger?
Ummm.... not altogether, OK folks?

Sprinkle something green on top (like green onions, or chives) and call it a balanced dinner.


Serves about 4
Ingredients

1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1-2 Tbsp olive oil 
2 cups chicken stock
1 can tomatoes, diced, with juices
2 hot links, diced
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
8 oz (1/2 package) small pasta, like orecchiette, macaroni or penne
Salt and Pepper, or other favorite spices, like basil, oregano or thyme

Saute the onions and garlic over medium heat in some olive oil in a large saucepan.. If using raw meat, or sausage (like the hotlinks), go ahead and add them too.  Cook until onions are soft (and meat is mostly cooked) about 3-4 minutes.

Add the tomatoes (with juice), the chicken stock, any spices (add salt and pepper later) and the pasta.  Stir until well combined.  Turn up heat and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer, uncovered, until the pasta is cooked.  It will probably take about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your pasta.  Stir often so it doesn't stick. 

Adjust seasoning by adding salt and pepper.  You will find that the pasta has thickened the sauce and made a complete dinner.  Serve and eat.

Later on, wash up the one pan.  Or better yet, have someone else wash up that pan.

Piper's Sourdough & Sausage Stuffing

This is tangy, spicy, crunchy and oh so yummy!  This is hands down my favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving with a little turkey and gravy.  Pretty much you can keep all the other things, this is what really matters to me.

I'm pretty sure that almost everyone has their most favorite family recipe for Thanksgiving, but in case you don't, I am sharing mine.

We've been deep frying our turkey for quite a few years, so I've had to make some changes to how we do stuffing.  But, most experts really do frown upon actually stuffing your turkey and then trying to roast it.  It takes too long to get the whole thing to the proper temperature, and by the time your stuffing is a safe temperature, your turkey is now overcooked.  This recipe is one that I bake in casserole dishes, and it works out moist, flavorful and crispy in all the right places, with just enough flavor, and kick, to make it a side dish that is important to the big day. 

Makes 2 large dishes
Serves about 10-12 with leftovers
Ingredients:

2 lb loaf of sourdough bread, cubed
1 lb.Italian sausage, hot or mild (of course, I use HOT)
2-3 onions
3 cups celery, chopped (the small inner stalks with leaves are great!)
1-2 tsp sage
1-2 tsp thyme
3-4 cups chicken stock
Salt & Pepper

Chop veggies and saute

Add meat and cook until pink no longer remains.

Add bread cubes and mix thoroughly,

Add broth until thoroughly moistened. Don't worry about it being too soggy, it will dry up a little bit in the oven when you bake it.

Add to a greased baking dish and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25-30 minutes.  You might want to cover it with foil if it looks like its getting to crispy, but my family loves that part the best.

Hot Links, Red Beans & Rice

I got called a Multi-taskin' Maven the other day. I was pretty flattered, but really it's not that hard to do two dinners at once.  Since I'm now part of the working world again, I really struggled with the fact that I didn't have the same amount of time to make dinner, as I am sure many of you can relate too.  On Thursday night, I made a great Lasagna Soup with Spinach Ricotta (it'll post to my blog soon....), and also prepped my crockpot for Red Beans with Hot Links for Friday night's dinner at the same time.  It's so easy to do it this way and I love knowing that dinner is cooking while I am gone. I always thought I was kinda lazy, but maybe that's how Multi-taskin' Mavens are born.  

If my husband goes to Costco by himself, he always comes home with Hot Links.  Now, I like Hot Links as much as anyone, but sometimes I have to think of what to make with them besides Jambalaya.  Red beans and rice is the perfect way to use your Hot Links and make an easy dinner too. I've got more Hot Links left over, so I'm still going to have to come up with some other ideas too...

Hot Links, Red Beans and Rice is a very comforting dinner, and frankly a great way to make a dinner ahead of time for a crowd on a budget.

(Vegetable Broth is shown, but I actually used just water in the recipe!)

Serves about 8
Ingredients
1 cup onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup celery chopped, inside stalks with leaves
1 lb small red beans, dried
4 hot links, about 1 lb, chopped
8 cups water
3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce
Salt & Pepper

Add all the ingredients to a crock pot, except the Frank's Red Hot sauce and the salt and pepper. 

Cook on low for 8 hours.  

Take half the mixture out and blend it until smooth.  I used an immersion blender, but I almost processed it too much.

Taste and add the Red Hot sauce and salt & pepper to taste.  You may not want all the hot sauce, and then again, you might even want more!

Serve with rice and sprinkle with chopped green onions.

Here's some more Cajun/Creole dishes that I like to make:
Shrimp, Cream & White Beans over Rice- Cajun Comfort Food
Jambalaya- Chicken, Hot Links & Shrimp

Sausage, Mushroom and Kale Lasagna

I found this recipe for a Sausage, Swiss Chard and Lemon Lasagna in a Martha Stewart Magazine which looked good, but then I had all these mushrooms I needed to use and all of a sudden I hadn't followed the recipe at all!  I'll probably still go back and try that, because but I love lemony stuff!

I used kale in my lasagna, but any green would work, swiss chard or spinach, would be awesome.  I also used Italian Turkey sausages in this recipe in order to reduce some of the fat.  I cooked them up ahead of time, and sliced them once they will chilled.

You can make this up ahead of time, and bake when needed.  I brought it to the guy's band practice, and they yummied it up.  I apologize in advance for the finished picture below... lasagna is hard to photograph, and it was harder in someone else's kitchen, umm, especially after a glass of wine. 

Being a spicy kind of gal, I did think that the finished dish needed MORE seasoning, so I have reflected that in the below recipe.  So don't be shy about the flavors, make sure your sauce, mushrooms and kale are nice and spicy.  Baking with all the noodles somehow mutes the flavors a bit, so you need to highly season everything you are laying up.  Got it?

Serves about 8
Ingredients

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

4 cups whole milk
1 tsp salt

2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 8 ounces)
1 cup mozzarella, grated (about 4 ounces)

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

5 cups coarsely chopped Kale (about 1 bunch)
8 oz sliced mushrooms
2 medium shallots, minced

1 pound sweet italian turkey sausage, cooked, cooled and thinly sliced
1 Tbsp Lemon zest

1 lemon, juiced

12 oz. no-boil lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook sausages on a baking sheet for about 35-40 minutes, or in a skillet over high heat, breaking up pieces, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.
Melt butter in a saucepan over high heat. Stir in flour; cook for 2 minutes.

Whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat. Simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Whisk in 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.  Make sure the sauce tastes really good to you at this stage, this is the base of the whole dish.

Slice and saute onions and mushrooms.  Do not add salt until they are done cooking, it releases juices from the mushrooms and you won't be able to get a nice browning on them. When they are the color you like and cooked through, turn off heat and season well.

Cut up kale, and saute in a a tablespoon of olive oil, lemon juice, some lemon zest, red pepper flakes and salt over medium high heat.  Cook about 3 minutes, it should be wilted but still bright green. Set aside and cool.
To assemble lasagna, using a 9x13 pan,
1) Ladle a small amount of sauce in bottom of the pan. 
2) Add a layer of the uncooked no-boil noodles, top with more sauce, and about 1/2 of your cooked sausage and about 1/2 cup of cheese. 
3) Another layer of noodles, more sauce and a layer of kale and more cheese. 
4) Another layer of noodles, sauce and the mushrooms
5) Another layer of noodles, sauce and the sausage. 
6) Top with more sauce and then cheese, being sure to drench the top and all the edges, using all the sauce.  This moisture in the sauce helps the noodles cook and for everything to do nice and gooey, tasty!

Ideally, you want this to be very tall in the pan, since it will drop and condense down by about half by the time it's done baking.  I try to get my lasagna over the top, but I DO bake this pan on a baking sheet to catch the drips.  It's certainly better than cleaning your oven...

Remove from oven. Heat broiler. Uncover lasagna; top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Broil until bubbling, 2 to 3 minutes.

Finished dish...

Hearty Sausage* & Lentil Soup

OK, so I had this awesome sausage and lentil soup years ago at a now defunct* Italian restaurant chain called Cucina, Cucina.  It's just about the ugliest soup ever (yep, even beats split pea!).  I experimented at home and came up with something like it that the family enjoyed for years.  Fast forward 10 years later, and somehow I have stopped making the soup.  So, I bought some hot Italian sausage and went to town in the kitchen making the soup again... this time I got curious and did some google searches.  A couple matches came up for copycat recipes for that restaurant chain, but they were, well... complicated, and I wasn't really feeling their recipes were close to what I remembered. So, I simplified my search and found Rachel Ray's recipe for Spicy Hungarian Sausage and Lentil Soup.  MMmmmm, it really struck a cord with me, but again too complicated.  Here is my rendition of all that I read.... it was really, really good soup and mostly healthy too!

1 16oz. bag of lentils, brown or orange

1 lb. bulk sausage, use mild, and Hot only if you like it quite spicy!
2 med carrots, diced

3-4 stalks celery, including inner leaves, diced

1 med onion, diced small

8-10 cups of water, or stock
     (If water, use 1 Tbsp chicken base, or 3 bouillon cubes)

1 can of diced tomatoes... I used Italian style with basil, oregano & garlic, but any will do.

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)

1 bunch of kale, shredded finely and sliced into 2 inch pcs (optional, but good and pretty too!)

Salt & pepper to taste

Brown the sausage and break apart with a wooden spoon as it cooks.... fine is nice, but a bit of chunk is nice too! You don't really need to add any additional oil, because as the sausage browns, it will render some fat.  Leaving the sausage in the pan, add the onions, celery and carrots and cook for about 3-5 minutes over medium high heat.  If you see to much fat in the pan, you can try to drain some off, but really, it adds a bunch of flavor and you aren't adding any other fat.....so relax!  Add the lentils, and the water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about an hour until the lentils are soft and are starting to break apart.  Add the tomatoes and the spices and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes, add more water as needed, you don't want this too thick!
Shred the kale and put a small amount in the bottom of each bowl and ladle soup on top! OR, you can just add it to the soup, reheat and serve.  Kale holds up pretty well for taste, color and body.

*I'm not really sure about the 'defunct' part, but these restaurants used to be everywhere, and they are no longer anywhere around here.... they might still be one somewhere else!

Side Dish Inspirations

Here are some ideas for serving with this dish:

• Bread & Salad... not much else needed!
• Cup of soup and a sandwich

Round Two cooking… make more and use it for:

If you plan it right, you could make a double batch to have enough leftover to make any of the following for another meal.  Here’s some ideas:

• Freeze half, you've got dinner made for a busy work night if you remember to take it out of the freezer the night before! Better yet... take it out on Sunday night and let it slowly thaw and be ready when YOU need it!
• Package it up and bring it to a sick friend or someone going through a tough time.
• Get those little travel cups with the vented lid and portion a bunch up to take in your lunch.  Way better for you, and lots cheaper too! Plus, if you have a job where it's tough to even get away from your desk, this is the way to do it!

What else would this technique work on???

• Vegetarian or Vegan? You could leave out the sausage and the chicken bouillon base and use just water, or vegetable broth instead. I bet they make a tofu "sausage" that you could use too!
• White Beans or Black beans would work great too, but they would take a lot longer to cook. Maybe make a "cheater" version and add 3-4 cans of drained canned beans! I bet it would work!