Thursday, November 6, 2014

Meat sauce with lotsa' stuff (pasta addiction)

Recipe: Penne with meat and vegetable sauce


I admit it, I'm a pasta addict. I just crave pasta - not every day, but frequently enough that you could say it's one of my favorite things to eat. It wasn't a surprise when one day last week my thoughts turned to pasta and what I could make with it. The cooler weather called for a sauce with a lot of taste, and I felt like meat. But sometimes meat sauce just doesn't have that extra oomph - you know, where you say "This is really good".

So I shopped in my fridge and came up with a winner. It took about 45 minutes to make, and not only did I love it, Wayne ate all the rest after I was done. Guess it passed the "really good" test!

 

Quick Penne with Meat and Vegetable Sauce


  • 2 slices thick bacon, diced
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 pound ground turkey
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  • 1/2 red padron pepper or other moderately spicy pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1/2 cup robust red wine
  • A few chopped roasted tomatoes (this is from my roasted tomatoes recipe - if you don't have it, use a few sun-dried tomatoes or just eliminate it. You can also use canned fire-roasted tomatoes instead of the canned tomatoes below, and that will add a little of that roasted taste.)
  • 1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 small eggplant cut into small cubes, enough to make about 1 cup of eggplant cubes
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 6 garlic-stuffed green olives, chopped
  • A few tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • A few fresh basil leaves, torn just before using
  • 1/2 pound, or a little less, dried penne. I used quinoa and brown rice penne, which is gluten-free, but regular semolina penne will be delicious too, or rigatoni, or any other short-ish shaped pasta.
In a large skillet, fry the diced bacon until it is almost crisp. Add the olive oil, the chopped onion, and the chopped pepper and saute until the vegetables soften.

Add the ground turkey and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up the pieces, until the meat is no longer pink. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, stirring hard to dislodge any goodies stuck on the bottom. Cook on medium high until the wine is almost gone.

Add the canned tomatoes and the chopped roasted tomatoes, if you are using them. Add the eggplant cubes and the oregano, and stir to mix well. Bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile start heating a large pot of water for the pasta, although you won't actually cook the pasta until the sauce is nearly finished.

When the sauce has simmered for 30 minutes, add the chopped olives and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the sauce sit while the pasta cooks.

Bring the pasta water to a full boil and add a tablespoon or two of sea salt. Add the pasta and cook until it is just tender. There is no way to ensure this without tasting it. After 6 or 7 minutes, scoop a piece of pasta out of the water and taste it. Taste it again a minute or two later. It's perfect when it is just chewy - not quite soft, but without any hard feel to it either. I find it is even more critical to avoid overcooking gluten-free pasta - I start tasting it at 6 minutes and I taste it every 45 seconds or so after that until it is perfect.

When the pasta is done, reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking water and then drain it thoroughly. Add the pasta to the sauce in the skillet and turn the heat on to medium for a couple of minutes, stirring and tossing the pasta with the sauce. Add some or all of the reserved pasta water to loosen things up. As soon as it's all hot and well mixed, ladle the pasta and sauce into bowls and sprinkle with the grated Parmesan and torn basil. Dig in.

Buon appetito!

This recipe is gluten-free if you use gluten-free pasta.



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