Quick Dinner: Rigatoni with Sausage, Mushrooms, and Spinach in a Pink Sauce

There’s something about a pink sauce… The tangy, acidic tomato combined with the rich and silky cream is so luxurious.  The smooth sauce finishes with a wonderful heat that cuts through the richness and rounds out the flavor.  Needless to say, pink sauce is a big part of my life.

This recipe is an expansion on a recipe I’ve been making forever.  One day I was making the pink sauce with sausage when my roommate Christine said, “That reminds me of something I make with mushrooms and spinach.”  I thought, “Wow, that sounds even better than the original recipe” so I decided to try it out.  This also contributes to my general food philosophy, which is “more vegetables are more good.”  And yeah, I guess the heavy cream in this recipe also contributes to my overall philosophy of moderation.  Vegetables are good, and so is cream (sometimes).  The other great thing about this dinner is that it’s quick!  It took me 45 minutes from filling the pot with water to sitting down and eating this while watching The Borgias on Netflix.  It’s not necessarily the meal for a night when you have a late meeting, but it’s definitely an achievable weekday dinner.

Start by bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil and prepping the mushrooms.  There is this big urban myth that you can't wash mushrooms, and I'm here to tell you that it's just not true.  Alton Brown agrees, and made a point to mention it during his live show in Athens a couple of weeks ago.  Gone are the days of delicately brushing each mushroom with a little brush - you're welcome.  I like to put a colander in the sink and run a steady, but not too powerful, stream of cold water outside of the colander.  I quickly wash each mushroom so there is no visible dirt and place in the colander.  Place the colander next to the cutting board and trim the woody end of each stem (but don't remove the stem completely) and slice. One more quick note about mushrooms: you could use regular white button mushrooms here, but the cremini (or "baby bella") mushrooms have a more robust flavor and firmer texture that I especially appreciate for Italian dishes.

Once the mushrooms are prepped remove the sausage from the casing and brown in a little olive oil over medium heat.  Break up the sausage into bite-sized pieces as you cook and be careful to stir frequently so they do not burn.  Once fully cooked, remove the sausage from the pan and add the mushrooms, crushed red pepper flakes, dried oregano, and salt and pepper.  Cook the sausage until brown and cooked through before adding the crushed garlic (I use my favorite kitchen tool - a garlic press) and spinach.  Season the spinach with salt and pepper to build well seasoned and even layers of flavor.  Once the spinach wilts return the sausage to the pan and add one 14.5 oz can of crushed tomatoes and season with a little more salt.  Stir together and add heavy cream and bring to a simmer.  If you didn't want to add the heavy cream (which I'll grudgingly admit is a valid healthier alternative) you can use one 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes and proceed without the cream.

Add the cooked pasta to the sauce, turn off the heat and stir until fully combined.  Serve with grated cheese, and maybe garnish with some fresh basil if you're a food blogger or you're planning to put this on Instagram.

Rigatoni with Sausage, Mushrooms, and Spinach in a Pink Sauce

Adapted from Today's Mama, and Christine Licata

Ingredients

• 1 lb. rigatoni (or other tubular pasta)
• 3-4 links of Italian sausage
• 10 oz. cremini mushrooms
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3-4 cups of spinach, chopped
• 14.5 oz. crushed tomatoes
• 1 pt. heavy cream
• ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• ½ tsp. oregano
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil
2. Wash and slice mushrooms
3. Remove sausage from casings and cook over medium heat until browned.
4. Remove sausage from the pan and add sliced mushrooms, season with salt and pepper.  Cook until browned and cooked through.
5. Add crushed garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, and chopped spinach to the pan and season with salt and pepper.
6. Once spinach has wilted return the sausage to the pan and add crushed tomatoes.  Season with salt.
7. Once tomatoes begin to simmer add heavy cream and season with black pepper. 
8. Stir to combine until sauce begins to bubble and reduce to a simmer.
9. Once pasta is cooked to al dente drain and add to pan.
10. Serve with grated parmesean or romano cheese.

Spinach and Feta Meatballs

These delicious little turkey meatballs are one of my favorite recipes.  They are a great main dish when served with rice, cous cous, or orzo, and have been a perennial cocktail party favorite plated up in a large bowl.  I use ground turkey in this recipe and in almost every ground meat application in my kitchen, but you can feel free to use beef, a beef/pork combination, or even ground lamb for a particularly Greek inspired meal!

Start by finely dicing a small onion and letting it sauté in olive oil over medium heat.  While the onion cooks roughly chop 4-5 cups of baby spinach and add to the pan with the onions.  Add two cloves of crushed garlic, season with salt and pepper and allow the spinach to wilt and the onions to become translucent.  You may substitute a box frozen chopped spinach for the fresh spinach, but I've made it with both and really prefer the fresh spinach for its texture and flavor.

Set the spinach and onion mixture aside in a bowl and allow to cool before mixing with the raw meat.  This will take a few minutes, so feel fee to pour a glass of wine or having a little cooking break with some cheese and crackers...just me? Okay.  Speaking of cheese, I use a great Mediterranean seasoned feta from Trader Joe's, but if you can't find it plain feta will be more than sufficient.

Once your spinach and onion mixture is sufficiently room temperature combine with ground turkey, egg, feta cheese, oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  If your mixture is very loose, which turkey sometimes can be, add some breadcrumbs to the mixture.  I've found these meatballs are much more tender without breadcrumbs so try to avoid it if you can.  So if you're impatient like me, use a spring loaded ice cream scoop to portion your meatballs and transfer them directly to the pan.  If you don't have a scoop, or have a virtuous level of patience, you can roll your meatballs by hand.  I prefer a slightly smaller meatball for this recipe because they cook more quickly and help the turkey from getting too dry.

Pan fry the meatballs in batches in a non-stick pan.  I've discovered that the non-stick pan is a meatball making essential so the cooked, caramelized part doesn't break away from the uncooked part as you flip the meatballs.  Don't worry about them becoming less spherical as you cook them.  All of my meatballs turn out kind of pyramid shaped and they remain lovely and delicious.

Spinach and Feta Meatballs

Adapted from Itsy Bitsy Foodies

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 4-5 cups baby spinach
• 3-4 oz. Mediterranean seasoned feta
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Breadcrumbs, if needed

Instructions

1. Finely dice onions and sauté with roughly chopped spinach and crushed garlic
2. Let spinach mixture cool to room temperature before adding to meat
3. Mix spinach mixture with meat and all remaining ingredients, save the breadcrumbs, until they are thoroughly combined, breaking up larger pieces of feta with your hands.
4. If the mixture is too loose to roll add breadcrumbs until you find the desired consistency
5. Use a spring loaded ice cream scoop or hand roll meatballs before cooking through in a non-stick pan

Greek Turkey Quinoa Bake and Conference Reflections

Last week I had the privilege of being a small group facilitator at the Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI) for the second time.  If you're not familiar with this wonderful program check it out over at the NIC website.  UIFI is always a powerful experience for me, and now that I don't work directly with Greek Life it was a great way to reconnect with the roots of my career in student affairs.  My fraternity is where student affairs "happened" for me, and the work that I continue to do within the movement is really where my heart lies.  It is incredible to watch the change that occurs in the students over five days of the conference; and I truly learn from each of them in addition to my fellow facilitators.

As excited as I was to return to UIFI, I was just as excited to return to the Alpha Xi Delta house at Indiana University where Jackie Howard reigns over a truly sublime kitchen.  Jackie's food is always delicious and he personality makes eating in her kitchen a truly joyful experience.  She was also recently profiled in an Indiana Public Media article for the great work she does to locally source food for the kitchen and her commitment to cooking organic when possible.  This recipe is inspired by a dish she made the first night the facilitators arrived and it is delicious, creamy, and full of protein!

First roast the turkey tenderloins with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  You can feel free to substitute chicken breast for turkey, but definitely don't substitute ground turkey - that's not really what you're looking for.  Jackie made it with turkey though, and I really wanted to switch up the usual chicken.  After the turkey is cooked, let it cook and shred or roughly cube it.

The ratio for quinoa is the same as making rice and cous cous - 2 parts water to 1 part grain.  The difference with quinoa is that you need to rinse it in a fine mesh sieve before you add it to the water.  I cooked my quinoa in chicken broth, but you could also use salted water.

The sauce for this dish is a classic mornay sauce with parmesan and goat cheese.  Start by making a roux of equal parts butter and flour.  I add crushed garlic to the butter for this sauce.  Let your roux turn lightly golden before whisking in 2 cups of milk (I used 2% because this sauce can get a little heavy).  Bring the milk to a simmer before you add the parmesan and goat cheese.  Once the cheese has melted add the spices and keep the sauce warm on low heat until the quinoa is cooked.

Add the cooked quinoa, turkey, tomatoes, and spinach to the saucepan and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to a greased 9x13 baking dish and cover with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Cook at 350 degree for 25 minutes, if its not brown enough after 25 minutes, pop on the broiler for a couple of minutes to get a nice, golden crust.

Ingredients 

• 1 and 1/2 cups white quinoa
• 3 cups water or chicken broth
• 2 turkey breast tenderloins (about 1 and 1/4 lb)
• 2 cups of milk
• 3 oz. goat cheese (chèvre)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 box of chopped, frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
• 3-4 medium tomatoes, seeded
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• Oregano
• Parsley
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 2 tbsp butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Cover turkey breast in olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast on a foil covered pan for 30 minutes.
3. Add quinoa to a pot of water or broth and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes,  Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes
4. Shred or cube cooled turkey and dice tomatoes
5. For the sauce, melt two tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan with two crushed cloves of garlic.  Whisk in two tablespoons of butter and keep whisking until it turns golden
6. Add two cups of milk and whisk vigorously until it is combined and comes to a simmer
7. When sauce begins to simmer add parmesan cheese and goat cheese, whisk in until smooth and combined
8. Finally add oregano, parsley, cayenne pepper, and black pepper
9. Add cooked quinoa, spinach, tomatoes, and turkey to the sauce, mix to combine
10. Transfer quinoa mixture into a greased 9x13 baking dish and top with breadcrumbs and a little more parmesan cheese.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.