Roasted Garlic & Rosemary Sourdough Focaccia

Who else remembers the 80's and 90's when pasta was "health food"?  Carbs were our friend, they gave you energy, and places like Olive Garden & Carrabba's were "fancy international dining".  (At least, they were if you lived in rural Missouri, where the fanciest restaurant in town was a Dairy Queen, and you had to drive 40 minutes in any direction to find a sit-down dining chain). 

I will never not love and defend pasta, which is fine in moderation, like everything else.  In our house, we have some form of pasta at least once a week.  And this particular week, we wanted to channel our "fancy Italian" youth and make some sourdough focaccia and dipping oil to go with it.  We used this recipe from The Perfect Loaf as our base.

For toppings, I saw several recipes that recommended sticking unpeeled garlic cloves around the top, noting that leaving them in the peel would allow them to roast without burning. This worked VERY well--once the bread has cooled a bit, you can remove the cloves, which pop out of the peel easily, and then stick the now-unpeeled cloves back into the bread.  We also had red onion and fresh rosemary, and I included some coarse kosher salt over the top as well.

We served this the first night with a delicious, creamy entrée of Italian Sausage Orzo from Salt & Lavender (note: we used chopped kale rather than spinach because it's what we had on-hand).

The leftover bread was noshed on throughout the rest of the week, sometimes with just a little olive oil, salt & pepper, and sometimes with a fancier dip comprised of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, grated parmesan, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and Italian herb blend, similar to this recipe.

Basil Kale Pesto & Italian Sausage Pasta

Last week I picked up some kale at the store...this bunch was MASSIVE.  Like, wouldn't even fit in the crisper drawer of our fridge massive.  I froze about half of it to use later on, made a batch of Zuppa Toscana with some, and then put most of the rest of it into this pesto. I've made a kale pesto before, but since I have basil in my garden this year, I figured it would be pretty tasty to use both together!  

This was a super-easy dinner to throw together after work.  I had the sausage cooking on one burner, the pasta water going on another, and then the pesto being blended in the food processor, so you can really work on all the elements at once.

INGREDIENTS: (makes 6 servings)
1 lb italian sausage, without casings
10 oz bowtie pasta
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic

pesto:
3-4 leaves fresh kale, stems removed
1 loose cup of fresh basil (~10-15 leaves)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4-1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS:
In a large skillet, cook the sausage until fully browned.  Drain the fat.
At the same time, start a pot of water for the pasta, and season with the salt and garlic.  When it's up to a rolling boil, add your pasta and stir occasionally. Boil your pasta 'til al dente.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the ingredients for the pesto and then blend until the kale & basil are finely minced and everything is combined into a big beautiful green mush. Should be a slightly thin paste.  Season to taste, as kale can be a little bitter--the lemon juice will help to offsite that.

When the pasta is finished cooking, drain the water, and then combine all ingredients (pasta, sausage, and pesto) in that pot.  

Garnish with extra parmesan, cracked black pepper and some basil chiffonade, if you're feelin' fancy.  Serve with a side of bread, or salad, or both if you're wild & crazy like that.  Enjoy!

NutriFacts: (per serving)

• Calories485.3
• Total Fat26.8 g
• Saturated Fat10.5 g
• Polyunsaturated Fat4.0 g
• Monounsaturated Fat17.8 g
• Cholesterol60.6 mg
• Sodium1,153.6 mg
• Potassium394.8 mg
• Total Carbohydrate41.8 g
• Dietary Fiber3.6 g
• Sugars2.5 g
• Protein20.1 g

Homemade pasta!

 

Not just sauce.  PASTA.  NOODLES. 

Let’s set aside my love of Cajun food for a moment.  Because my first food love, aside from “Mom's cooking”, was Italian.  My grandpa (Pawpaw) used to make spaghetti all the time when we visited him—it’s actually the only thing I remember him cooking, since my Grandma (Nana) typically did most of the cooking.  It was the only way I would eat mushrooms—in PawPaw’s spaghetti.  When we ventured into the big city & went out to eat, Olive Garden was always my top choice—and ALWAYS fettuccini alfredo.  ALWAYS. Ravioli, fried or canned?  LOVE.  There’s just something about carbs & meat and tomato sauce in a big bowl that sets one’s mind at ease. Or maybe that’s just the carbo overload.

Anyway… my friends Jenn & Paul gave us the Kitchenaid pasta roller attachment as our wedding gift…but up til now, we hadn’t had a chance to use it.  But there’s no time like the present—especially when you have half a jar of Prego in the fridge.

Though it took a few tries to get it right & get the hang of the roller, here’s the nice thing about making your own pasta—it’s very forgiving.  It’s meant to be kneaded & rolled & rolled again to get it to the perfect thickness & consistency.  So if it doesn’t come through your roller nicely the first time, just fold it over & pass it through again.

Ingredients: (makes enough noodles for 4 servings)

1 cup all purpose flour (some recipes call for durum flour, but it’s not cheap, and AP worked just fine for me)

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1.5 tbsp water

.5 tbsp olive oil

1 beaten egg

 

Directions:

Add your dry ingredients into a large bowl & mix.  Then make a slight indention in the center of the flour & add the beaten egg.  Begin the mixer, and then add the water & oil.  Continue mixing until well combined and it forms a ball. 

Lay some wax paper on your counter & lightly flour it.  Sprinkle some flour on the dough as well & knead.  The oil should help it from being sticky, but you can sprinkle with more flour as needed.  Then, set up your pasta roller (you could probably also roll out with a rolling pin if you don’t have a pasta roller) to the thickest setting, and roll through. Pass through a few times till you get a good even sheet.

Then, start thinning it down.  Move the setting down a notch, pass through again, and so on. If it starts to tear or weaken, no worries, just fold over & pass through again.  Continue to ratchet down one level at a time until you get to your desired thickness.  For the record, I stopped at a “4”, on the Kitchenaid roller, 1 is the thickest, and 8 is the thinnest.

Once you’re happy with the thickness, lay it out on the wax paper & sprinkle w/a bit more flour so that your cutter won’t stick when you start slicing into noodles.

I don’t have the Kitchenaid cutter attachment because I just can’t seem to justify the cost.  Rather, I have a hand roller like this one, that I got for 75 cents at the thrift store.

Works just fine & makes a lovely pile of noodles.

If you don’t have either of these, a pizza cutter also works just fine.

Then all that’s left to do is whip up a quick sauce:

(1/2 jar Prego, 1/2 lb cooked turkey sausage, 1/2 package fresh sliced mushrooms, 1/2 onion, 1/2 bell pepper, 1 tbsp minced garlic, & Italian seasoning to taste)

Set a pot of water to boil, and add a pinch of salt & a tsp of olive oil.  Once the water boils, add your pasta.  The oil will help keep the noodles from sticking together.

Boil for 1-7 minutes—it’ll depend on the thickness.  Taste them to check for doneness.

Then mix with your sauce & serve!!!

 

NutriFacts:

Calories 378.6  

Total Fat 15.3 g   

Saturated Fat 4.0 g   

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.7 g   

Monounsaturated Fat 3.0 g  

Cholesterol 86.3 mg  

Sodium 1,332.1 mg  

Potassium 137.0 mg  

Total Carbohydrate 39.1 g   

Dietary Fiber 5.1 g   

Sugars 9.2 g  

Protein 21.9 g