creating dinner

i'm lucky to live in a place that has an abundance of local food purveyors: butcher, cheese shop, pasta, bakery, produce and coffee coffee coffee.  today, after grabbing a latte, i meandered around the aforementioned shops and collected enough goodies to create a delicious dinner. because i like to create dinner!

what i bought

chicken sausage (with sun dried tomato, onion, herbs) from the butcher

asaigio and smoked blue cheese (curiosity forced me to buy this one) from the cheese shop

lemon fettuccine from the pasta shop

vine ripened tomatoes, pears, baby arugula, mixed greens from the produce shop

what i made

i was able to make 2 dishes

1. a pear, mixed greens/arugula and smoked blue cheese salad

2. tomato sausage pasta!

how i made it

the salad was completely straightforward.  i used a light champagne vinaigrette that i had already made

the pasta was great too. 

browned the sausage (outside of the casing) until cooked through with brown spots

added chopped shallot - 2 minutes

splash of dry sherry - 1 minute

add chopped tomatoes and cook down for ~10 minutes.  sauce will get soupy first as the tomatoes cook and then thicken as the water cooks off

cook pasta to al dente

drain but don't rinse

add tablespoon of butter, 1/4 cup of asaigo, finishing salt (such as maldon), fresh cracked pepper and a tablespoon of pasta water to hot pasta -- stir around

add the chicken sausage sauce to pasta

serve and enjoy!

review

all in all, i loved my creation (no modesty here).  i'm not sure i would buy the smoked blue cheese again for a salad but could see myself using it on a pizza

you could certainly use any sausage and adjust the other ingredients to match the flavor.  lamb with red wine, tomatoes and feta?; hot italian sausage and roast fennel?.....make up yours and let me know how it goes.