This recipe originally came from my favorite test kitchen and source of all things delicious: Cook’s Country. It’s a “premium” recipe, which means you have to be a paid subscriber to their quarterly magazine in order to access it on their website, but as far as I can determine, I’m free to talk about it here as long as I’m not using the repost for commercial gain. If you’re a cooking enthusiast, I highly recommend you subscribe to the magazine, scour the website, and DVR the PBS tv show!
This makes a great weeknight dinner, and it’s a change of pace from run-of-the-mill pasta dishes. Its quick, and it cooks in one pan! I know it’s not heart-healthy, but once in a while you can allow yourself a treat! This dish uses the bulk Italian sausage that you made yourself if you used our recipe under Mad Scientist.
Ingredients
balsamic vinegar
4 or 5 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 large head of broccoli, cut into florets
½ cup heavy cream
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp minced garlic
½ lb ziti rigati
1 sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 lb bulk Italian sausage
Procedure
If you don’t have bulk Italian sausage, use links and remove the casings. Brown the meat and remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in the pan. Set aside in a bowl.
Cook onion and pepper in the sausage drippings until they are soft. Add the ziti and sauté until the pasta is just getting a touch of color. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper, stir, then add the wine, chicken broth, and cream. Bring to a boil and add the reserved sausage. Cover and simmer for about half the recommended cooking time for the pasta. Add the broccoli and continue cooking covered until the pasta is al dente.
Remove the pan from the heat, and add the Parmesan, basil, and 2 Tbsp. of the balsamic vinegar. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.
Buon Appetito!
Your Daily Bread
Acts 10: 1 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the Jewish people and always prayed to God. 3 About three in the afternoon he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, “Cornelius!”
4 Looking intently at him, he became afraid and said, “What is it, lord?”
The angel told him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, he called two of his household slaves and a devout soldier, who was one of those who attended him. 8 After explaining everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
9 The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the housetop about noon. 10 Then he became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he went into a visionary state. 11 He saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth. 12 In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. 13Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!”
14 “No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything common and ritually unclean!”
15 Again, a second time, a voice said to him, “What God has made clean, you must not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into heaven.
