This pasta is a compilation of various recipes and techniques. Saving it here in case my housemates want me to do it again. It came out pretty good.
To accommodate my Russian mind craving stories and movies, I organize my mise en place for this Italianish dish the way my first Chinese cookbook taught me:
— pot with salted water,
— large frying pan with oil and butter in it,
— paper towel lined plate,
— bowl with sliced peppers and onions,
— plate with sausage meat,
— dish with chopped garlic,
— bowl with flour, pepper flakes, and black pepper together,
— cup with cream and mustard together,
— bowl with spinach,
— bowl with Parmesan,
— bowl with chopped parsley.
Then I stick in an AirPod into my left ear leaving the right one for the life around me, put the movie on my iPad next to the stove, and enjoy cooking.
You won’t be able to fit a full-length feature film into this dish — it’s quite quick. But an episode from a series will do. I am currently on Expats.
WHAT WENT IN
— 1 lb pasta
— 1 Tbsp butter
— 1 Tbsp olive oil
— 1 red pepper, sliced
— 1 yellow pepper, sliced
— 1 orange pepper, sliced
— 1 cubanelle pepper, sliced
— 2 medium onions, sliced
— 2 lb sausage meat
— 5 garlic cloves, crushed
— 1 tsp red pepper flakes
— 2 tsp flour
— 1 tsp black pepper
— 1 tsp black pepper
— 1 pint heavy cream
— 1 tsp Dijon mustard
— 5 oz baby spinach
— grated Parmesan
— chopped parsley
THE PROCESS.
1. While the water is coming to a boil and pasta is cooking, in a frying pan over a very high heat — in batches — cook peppers and onions in oil and butter. They should become charred but remain crunchy. Remove to the paper towel lined plate.
2. Wipe the pan off extra grease, add the sausage and fry it until browned and slightly charred. When you get there, turn the flame off, tilt the pan, and scoop out as much grease as you can. Discard the grease.
3. Push the sausage to the sides, creating an empty space in the middle of the pan. In that spot, fry garlic over medium heat.
4. Once the garlic turns blonde — not more than a minute — mix it into the sausage together with flour, black pepper, and pepper flakes.
5. Mix in heavy cream with mustard.
6. Once the sauce thickens, wait for your pasta and scoop it into the pan with the sausage. At this point, pasta should be about 2/3 done.
7. As you’re incorporating pasta, keep adding and mixing in pasta water — ladle by ladle, sort of risotto-style — until pasta is completely cooked. Every pasta brand and shape is different, every ladle is different — it might take five or seven, or more scoops of water to get pasta to where you want it.
8. Mix in the spinach until it wilts.
9. Add peppers and onions to warm them through.
10. Sprinkle with parsley and Parmesan. Done.