Monday, December 5, 2011

Hearty pasta with greens, beets, feta and maybe some Sausage

My frustration with the lack of cold weather is what brought this one to life. Hoping to summon some relatively seasonal weather, I mixed up some fair weather friends with some heartier staples for a very easy and satisfying  supper.  I happened to have a bratwurst in my freezer and beets in the fridge, so all I needed was some greens and inspiration.

Yield: 4 servings
Time: 60-90 minutes, depending on your beets

Ingredients:
4 large (baseball sized) red beets, tops removed and bellies well scrubbed
1 T rosemary
1/2 lb bratwurst or other savory mild sausage
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
12-16 leaves of Swiss chard, ribs removed and chopped, leaves roughly chopped and well washed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb whole wheat cavatappi pasta, cooked al dente
1 T olive oil
1/2 - 1 c crumbled feta
s and p

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 400*, place the beets in a shallow roasting pan with about a half an inch of water.  Sprinkle with s&p and crushed rosemary.  Tightly cover with foil and roast until they are easily poked with a fork, but still offer a bit of resistance.  A baseball sized guy will go 60-90 minutes.  Several smaller fellas will go as quickly as 30-60 minutes, but are more work to peel.
  • Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, cook pasta until just done (it will cook a little more, so you can even go under) about 8-9 minutes.  Toss with some olive oil and set aside.
  • In a large lidded saute pan over medium low heat, cook the sausage through (whole, crumbled or sliced*). As it nears done, add the onions to the pan and cook until translucent.
  • Add the greens and chopped stems, reduce heat low and cover to wilt the greens.  After a minute or 2 add the garlic and stir it all around.  Cover and allow to continue cooking over very low or no heat until the beets are ready.  If the beets have a ways to go, just leave the lid on and turn off the flame until you take the beets out.
  • Once the beets are out of the oven and cooled enough to handle, return the greens and sausage to low heat and add the pasta to warm through.
  • Meanwhile, peel the beets* and chop into cubes.
  • Toss the pasta mixture to evenly distribute and serve in warmed shallow pasta bowls.  Top with beets, feta and a healthy crack of pepper.

If you opt to go veggie with this and leave out the sausage, add a little oil to the pan before you add the greens.  Bring up the flavor with some rosemary, sage, and fennel.  Add a splash of apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar just before serving.

Or...throw it all in a baking dish, top with mozzarella or swiss and bake until bubbly!

This would also be a fantastic side to any roasted or braised meat, less the sausage.

*Helpful Hints:
Cooking sausage: I don't work with sausage much, and I'm not very good at cooking it.  I can never seem to get a while link to cook through, so I either slice it long ways and cook it in a pan, or just pull it out of the casing and crumble it.  Personally, I find the crumbles more appealing than slices anyway.  I find that in German applications, the links are either steamed or boiled.  For this dish, you could just as easily roast it in the oven along side the beets, then add it to the onions.
Peeling Beets: beets are really easy to cool once they are cooked and allowed to cool a little bit.  I always recommend wearing rubber dish or latex medical gloves, cuz the red will last for days.  Any way you go, just pick up the beet and rub it gently between dry paper towels. The skin should just roll right off for you.  If you get some stubborn spots, try a small paring knife or a veggie peeler.