Penne with Sausage, Basil & Mustard

*Post by Angela.

I love the Internet so much. Yesterday I came home from work, made a list of the things in my fridge and pantry that appealed to me, then combined them all in a Google search, which spit out this recipe from foodandwine.com. This is a really flavor-packed meal, and made enough for me to lunch on for the next few days (since Mark's not around).

List of ingredients for the pasta:

• 1 lb penne
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 lbs hot Italian sausage (about 8 links), removed from casings and crumbled
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 tbsp grainy mustard
• Generous pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp arrowroot
• 1 cup thinly sliced basil

First, I got the pasta cooking in a pot of boiling, salted water. I also heated the olive oil in a pan over high heat, then added the sausage, breaking it up as I browned it. I love hot Italian sausage (hee!), and it's salty enough on its own that you won't need to add any additional salt.

After about 5-7 minutes, I added in the wine, deglazing the pan and cooking for another 5 minutes, until the wine had reduced down by half. Then I stirred in the cream, mustard, and red pepper flakes, and cooked another 2 minutes. The sauce wasn't as thick as I wanted, so I took this opportunity to bust out the bottle of arrowroot I had in the cabinet - a Twitter friend had clued me into this South American starch, which is used as a thickener, much like corn starch. It worked out really well - a little goes a long way.

I drained the pasta, then tossed it together with the sausage mixture and the basil. I served myself a plate and devoured it - I was afraid the mustard would be overwhelming, but the sauce was just right - tangy and creamy, with a little bit of heat. Internet, you've done it again!

Comments

[Evan]

mustard huh? sounds intriguing and also very delicious. Sausage sits in my freezer right now...

[Angela]

Do it. I loved the combination. Also, shouldn't we all always have sausage sitting in our freezers?!