Sausage, fennel, onion and tomatoes make a robust pasta topping. I adapted this recipe from Tom Colicchio, award- winning chef of Craft and Gramercy Tavern in New York.
Italian turkey sausage is often seasoned with fennel seed. Also called sweet anise, fennel is a large white bulb with celery-like stems and feathery green leaves. It has a mild licorice flavor and can be eaten raw or cooked.
This meal contains 535 calories per serving with 27 percent of calories from fat.
Wine suggestion: A perfect match for this fennel-scented dish is a big rich red that has a hint of licorice itself – syrah. Invite me over.
If you can’t find fennel, substitute celery. The flavor will be different but good.
Countdown: Place water for pasta on to boil.
Prepare ingredients.
Cook pasta.
Complete dish.
Shopping list: 1/2 pound lean, fennel-flavored turkey sausage; 1 medium fennel bulb; 1 small head cauliflower; 1 small bunch parsley; 1 small can low-salt, crushed tomato; 1 package spaghetti.
Staples: Onion, olive oil, salt, black peppercorns.
Tom Colicchio’s Fennel and Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
Directions
Put a 3- to 4-quart saucepan of water on to boil. Cut sausage into 1/2-inch slices. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté sausage 2 minutes and set aside. Add fennel, onion and cauliflower to the pan and sauté 5 minutes. As the vegetables start to color, return the sausage to the skillet for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and set aside, covered, off the heat.
As soon as the water boils, cook the spaghetti about 8 minutes.
Drain and return to saucepan. Add the olive oil and toss. Add the sausage mixture and salt and pepper to taste. Toss well and serve with parsley on top. Makes 2 servings.
Per serving: 535 calories (27 percent from fat), 16.3g fat (3.5g saturated, 3.5g monounsaturated), 60mg cholesterol, 30g protein, 67.8g carbohydrates, 7.8g fiber, 480mg sodium.
