Wednesday,
November 30, 2005
THE WORKING COOK
Comfort
in a bowl
by
Beth Budra
Special to The
Chronicle
Sometimes a fall comfort dish needs a shot of
summer. In today's pasta dish, the flavors of summer concentrated in green olives
and sun-dried tomatoes meld with cream and chewy pasta. It's one of those
dishes that can be made in the time it takes to boil the pasta water. Apart
from the sausage and fresh parsley, the ingredients may already be in the
pantry.
This dish is lightly sauced and fairly
monochromatic. This may tempt you to add more olives and tomatoes,
but be careful -- their assertive flavors can easily become overwhelming. The
pine nuts, cream, parsley and cheese temper those bold ingredients. If you want
more color, try adding parsley instead.
Orecchiette pasta, shaped like little ears or
cups, catches bits of sun-dried tomatoes, olives and pine nuts in each bite.
The orecchiette are thicker at the edges, giving them an irregular chewiness
that adds interest and heartiness to the dish. If you can't find orecchiette,
you can substitute farfalle (bowties).
Taste your sun-dried tomatoes to see how tough
and chewy they are. If they're tough, soak them in warm water to soften.
Vacuum-packed sun-dried tomatoes may not need soaking. Sun-dried tomatoes
packed in oil can taste musty; if using, try rinsing off the oil beforehand.
You can use sweet or spicy Italian sausage, or a combination of both for this dish (or leave it
out altogether). If you choose spicy, you may want to omit the red chile
flakes. Broiling the sausage is quicker and not as messy as cooking it on the
stove; it also needs less attention, so you can focus on the rest of the
ingredients while it cooks.
Beth Budra is a recent graduate of the
©2005
San Francisco Chronicle
More à
FAST & FRESH / Dinner in 30 minutes
Orecchiette
Pasta with Sausage,
Olives,
Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Pine Nuts
The most time-consuming
aspect to this dish is waiting for the pasta water to boil. You also can use warm, precooked sausage.
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (preferably not
packed
in
oil), cut into julienne strips
12 ounces Italian sausage
1 pound orecchiette pasta
1/4 cup Spanish or other mild green olives,
finely
chopped
1/3 cup cream
2 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
black
pepper
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3 Tablespoons pine nuts
INSTRUCTIONS:
If the sun-dried tomatoes
are tough, soak in 1/2 cup of warm water until soft, about 5 minutes, squeeze
dry and reserve.
Bring a big pot of water
to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt.
Preheat broiler, placing an oven rack 6 to 8 inches below heating
element.
Place sausage on a baking
sheet. Broil for 8-10 minutes, turning
once. Remove from oven,
let cool slightly and cut diagonally into 1/2 inch-thick slices.
Meanwhile, cook pasta
according to package directions. Drain
well, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta-cooking water. Return pasta to pot and toss with sausage,
tomatoes, olives, cream and reserved pasta water. Add Parmigiano-Reggiano and crushed red
pepper flakes. Season
with black pepper to taste. Taste for salt and add if needed. Sprinkle chopped parsley and pine nuts over
and serve.
Serves 4
PER SERVING: 745
calories, 28 g protein, 97 g carbohydrate, 27 g fat (g saturated), 63 mg
cholesterol, 882 mg sodium, 5 g fiber.
©2005 San Francisco
Chronicle