charlotteann

Well hi! It’s been a very long time. The Fall Semester 2009 has finally destroyed itself and I finally have time to cook and photograph the foods of my labor. I can’t tell you how excited I was to go to the farmer’s market Sunday morning. Okay, more like Sunday afternoon but I still got some good stuff. In fact, my scallions and mustard greens were discounted to 75 cents each because Ms. $1 herb lady wanted to get rid of them so badly. Anyhoo. For this dish the only thing from said market was the onion, everything else came from Safeway and Bristol Farms, the bougie, ’spensive grocery store under the Westfield mall. Oh, and the sausage came from the little halal meat market on Geary at Jones, next to my all time favorite pizza joint Milan Pizza. I guess the apparent point to be made is that I buy my foodstuffs from all over. All of these ingredients could potentially come from the same place, however.

Sweet and spicy rigatoni (serves two)

1-2 small link(s) sweet chicken sausage
1 medium onion, chopped into smallish bits
1 clove garlic
1/3 cup spicy/zesty tomato pasta sauce
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cups dry rigatoni
4-5 leaves fresh basil torn into small pieces
1 tablespoon grated Romano cheese
salt & pepper

In a small sauce pan, cook the onion, garlic, and sausage in the olive oil over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through and things start to brown slightly and/or start to leave little brown bits on the bottom of the pan. I was satisfied when it looked like this:

Add the sauce, stir, lower the heat and continue to stir occasionally. Season with salt and pepper as well as the basil, but make sure to keep some basil around for presentation value later on. Meanwhile, cook your rigatoni. When it’s al dente or otherwise to your liking, drain it and return it to the pan. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well. Garnish with the cheese and remaining basil and serve!

While this meal is decidedly Italian in nature, I used a sausage seasoned with Middle Eastern spices. And apples, I think. Part of me thinks that Italian and Middle Eastern food can totally get together and make something delicious. If I pursue this vein of cooking, it would be a somewhat poetic joining of my family history (Italian) and my neighborhood (San Francisco’s Tenderloin district). I can’t think of any Italian-fusion restaurants, only French. And most of those are fused with Asian cuisine. Gee whiz, California. Way to think outside the box.