A little while back, my sous chef and I were at the grocery store, and a package of fully cooked Pineapple Bacon Chicken Sausage caught our collective eye. We brought it home, and then it sat in our fridge for a while I tried to figure out what to do with it. A few days later, I found a pack of Corn and Chickpea Rotini in the “Sale” shelf, and got the idea to make a pasta dish (figuring the corn flavour notes would pair well. The idea finally rounded out when I thought of the sauce from our Flax Crusted Sea Scallops recipe and how well the pineapple and red pepper went together in that component.
With all of our ingredients on hand, we got to work, and we made this highly unorthodox pasta dish. The sausage and roasted red pepper indeed complemented each other nicely, and the spinach we added on a whim added some nice colour (and nutritional balance). In the end, this was a winner!
Time: 30 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Rotini. We used a chickpea and corn flour rotini.
- Chicken Sausage. We went with a Pineapple Bacon flavour.
- Roasted Red Peppers…Use store bought or Roast Your Own!
- Onion
- Spinach
- Milk or Cream
- 1 Tablespoon of Butter
- 1 Tablespoon of All Purpose Flour
- Optional: Red Pepper Flakes
Method:
- If Roasting Your Own Peppers, do that ahead of time (up through the step where you peel off the charred skin (and then cut the top off and remove seeds).
- Bring a pot of water to a boil, and then add your rotini. Boil until soft. Then, drain the water, and set aside.
- As your pasta cooks, dice your onion. Then, heat some butter in a pan, and add your onions. Allow to cook until they become opaque.
- As your onion cooks, slice your sausage. When your onion is ready, add it to the pan, and stir to combine.
- Puree your roasted red pepper in a blender. If you want some heat in your final product, add some red pepper flakes before you puree.
- When your sausage is hot, and your onions are starting to caramelize, sprinkle in your all purpose flour, and stir to combine. Allow to cook for about a minute.
- Pour in your red pepper puree and some milk or cream. Stir to fully combine, and allow your sauce to thicken. As your sauce thickens, add in some big handfuls of spinach, and allow it to wilt.
- Lastly, pour in your cooked pasta, and fold all of the ingredients together to fully incorporate into one cohesive dish.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
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