Alls I can say is this was a happy accident. I was feeling all inspired to cook so I made this dish and it was really outstanding. I’ll try and remember the ingredients so I can share (and remember how to make it next time)!
Ingredients:
-3/4 lb bulk mild italian chicken sausage (new seasons market has this)
-1/4 package frozen chopped leaf spinach
-1/2 box low sodium organic chicken broth
-1/8th to 1/4 cup half-n-half
-flour
-unsalted butter
-mushrooms, sliced
-onion, sliced
-3 garlic cloves, minced
-salt and pepper
-freshly grated parm/reg cheese
-rigatoni, cooked (I used the whole bag)
Directions:
Boil water and cook pasta until done, but on the fimer side. Drain, and place in rectangle shaped baking dish w/a little olive oil and sea salt to coat pasta. Set aside. Pre-heat oven to 300deg. Saute sausage in a little olive oil over low/medium heat, breaking up w/a wooden spoon as you go. When cooked, place in bowl for temp storage. Next, melt about 1/4 stick of butter in same pan and add onions, garlic and mushrooms. Saute until translucent and fragrant. Place in bowl and cover/hold warm.
Place pasta in oven, and stir occasionally.
Meanwhile, make sauce (roux). Melt more butter (1/4 stick), then add enough flour to soak up (a couple tablespoons). Ideally, this is going to resemble a paste…like frosting consistency (I use a whip or the back of a spoon). Now, slowly add chicken broth (1/2 cup to start, then you can continue to add in larger quantities as sauce thickens). Keep on eye on this and simmer/low heat, add half-n-half. Stir regularly, it will begin to thicken up. Add spinach when you are satisfied with the amount of sauce you have (spinach has water so sauce will thin out a little after you add). Season w/salt and pepper.
Broil pasta in oven so that it becomes a little crunchy. Be careful! Don’t burn. This only takes like 5 mins max in my oven. Remove from heat when a little brown on top. Stir.
Now, you can assemble the pasta. Most of my kids hate sauce, so I like to keep things separate and they can add in what they want. The above photo is obviously my plate, cause I like all that stuff. Serve w/fresh grated parm/reg cheese shavings on top. Hooray!
