For those who’ve been eagerly awaiting this week’s embarrassing typo awesome sausage recipe, sorry for the late hour. I got caught up in watching the last few innings of the Mets/Yankees game. Ugh… So, now that I’m thoroughly depressed, comfort food is definitely on the menu!
Well, at least there’s still one good thing about the Mets… David Wright (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Baked Pasta with Sausage
1 lb rotini or fusilli
4 TBSP olive oil, divided
7 oz baby spinach, washed and spun
1 lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
1 medium onion, chopped
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 cup plus 2 TBSP Parmesan
1 stick (8 TBSP) unsalted butter
½ cup flour
4 cups milk
½ tsp nutmeg, salt & pepper to taste
2 TBSP Italian bread crumbs
Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package indicates. Drain well. Toss with 2 TBSP olive oil and set aside. Place spinach in a large bowl. Brown sausage over medium high heat, and then spoon over spinach. Heat remaining olive oil in the same skillet. Add onion and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are tender, about 3 minutes. Toss with sausage, spinach, and 1 cup cheese. Mix well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt butter in saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk flour into butter and stir until smooth. Remove from heat, and slowly whisk in milk. Return saucepan to heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk constantly until sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
Stir sauce and pasta into meat mixture. Mix well. In a small bowl, combine 2 TBSP Parmesan with the breadcrumbs. Spoon pasta mixture into a large baking dish, and cook covered for 30 minutes. Then remove foil, and top with breadcrumbs. Return to the oven for 15 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes before eating.
This is comfort food at its very best, and serves 6-8. It takes a little longer than I was initially expecting, but can also be assembled beforehand, and baked another day. Actually, if you’re a Mets fan, that day might be tomorrow…
Wow, there’s an awful lot going on here. How does the spinach come out? Very wilted, or more like sauteed?
Adn I’ve stopped worrying about the Mets. It’s still a bit early for their annual implosion, but I don’t want to get sucked in (again) when it happens.
Again.
It’s somewhat wilted, but all you really taste is butter and sausage. It’s pretty much the perfect food (as long as you don’t mind dying young).
The worst part of rooting for the Mets is being surrounded by so many disgustingly happy Yankee fans…
Yankee fans suck.
Whenever they go on about how great their team and fans are, I like to ask “Sorry, which stadium are you not allowed to buy beer in after the seventh inning? Citi Field? Oh, no, htat’s right. Yankee Stadium. Because you guys can’t hold your liquor. Sissies.:
hehehe
Well, if you’re going to brag about substance abuse, you should also point out that the Mets could ingest boatloads of cocaine and still win a world series! Take that Yankees fans who can’t even hold their beer. And then there’s the turncoats, bragging when they have no loyalty…
(I do feel kinda bad for my kids though, since technically we’re teaching them to idolize drugs and bad pitching.)
I like your typos! You go big when you do it!
Oh, my typos are epic. No doubt about it!
My buddy grew up in Staten Island, and loves the Mets. I’m not a sports guy and don’t understand, the Met vs. Yankees deal. But being raised a Giants fan, I was raised to hate the Yankees. So at least everybody likes sausage. Unless you’re a vegetarian. Then you can eat sausage made of bean paste or something.
For those who don’t want to die young, they do make turkey and chicken sausage. I’m not sure about vegetarian sausage though. Actually, come to think of it, none of my vegetarian friends read this blog. Hmmmm.
Baseball and football run on a mafia mentality here. And you do not go against the family. Everyone knows this…
My Uncle learned the hard way…
Exactly.
YUM. I would say this comfort food is also very necessary now that So You Think You Can Dance has started – I’ll need something to console myself with when the dancers get cut from the show! At least one of us should be carb loading, don’t you think?
Yes, you should definitely carb load when dance or exercise is involved. Never mind the specifics…
Oh, and this sauce is soooo good, in case you couldn’t tell by it using an entire stick of butter!
Butter makes EVERYTHING better! Probably even my dancing skills…
I find that mine improve a little with butter, but alcohol makes my moves earth-shattering.
I hear you on that one!