Thursday, December 18, 2008

Wednesday night: Brussel Sausage Pasta

Last night I "helped" Isabelle and Patrick put their den back together after having painted the floor last weekend. They did all the heavy lifting and I fed the workers with this brussel sprout and faux sausage pasta, which I actually veganized myself from a traditional omni recipe that used pancetta as the meat.

Ingredients:
1/2 to 3/4 lb brussel sprouts, stems removed and halved
1/2 lb faux sausage (i was lazy so I used Gimme Lean sausage style)
3/4 lb bowtie or rotini pasta (Davinci is my fave)
2-4 cloves of garlic, pressed
5-10 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1 t of dried)
lots of fresh ground black pepper
salt to taste
1 T ev olive oil
soy parma to top it off
roasted, chopped hazelnuts for garnish (though really i ended up using an overflowing 1/4 cup of these so the dish was quite nutty, and quite delicious)

Directions:
1. Heat your oven to 425
2. toss brussels in oil and salt and papper, place face down on a heavy baking sheet, roast for 20-25 minutes until lightly brown on top and easily pierced with a fork
3. cook pasta via directions on box, drain being sure to reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid
4. brown sausage in a non-stick pan while pasta cooks being sure to chop it up as it browns, add thyme and pressed garlic 1 minute before it's done cooking
5. place drained pasta and reserved starchy water back in pasta pot, throw in cooked sausage crumbles (with the thyme and garlic - scrape the pan so you don't leave any goodness behind!), add roasted brussels, season with lots of black pepper and salt.
6. serve with soy parma and roasted hazelnuts on top (to roast your own see below), garnish with a drizzle of olive oil if it's too dry for you.

Roasting hazelnuts:
Buy a bag of hazelnuts in the shell, crack those bad boys open, put the nuts in a bowl as you work. Spread your shelled nuts out on a nice baking sheet and roast at 400 or 425 degrees (this can vary based on what else you have in the oven, just check them sooner at hotter temps) until they are light to medium brown and being to smell...well roasted. This will generally take 8 or 10 minutes. When they start to brown check them every minute or so, you don't want burnt nuts!