As the weekend approaches, I start planning meals to bring to work. I usually like to go with something quick and simple to make – usually some sort of pasta, soup/stew, or some lean protein with brown rice.

Since I’m already going to make a zuppa toscana soup, I figured I’d stick with the Italian theme and make some pasta to go with it. If you like mushrooms, sausage, tomatoes, and pasta, I’m sure you’ll love this recipe!

The recipe says to make everything in a large skillet, but I made mine in a wok instead. When it comes to cooking, sometimes it’s hard to hide my Asian-ness.

You can take a girl out of Asia, but you can’t take the Asian out of her!

I think woks are a very versatile piece of kitchen equipment, and I think every kitchen needs to have one. You can use it for sauteing vegetables, , steaming dumplings, boiling pasta, making omelets… the possibilities are endless.

Back in Taiwan, our family does not own a skillet, a grill pan, any sort of saucepans, a food processor,  or an oven (we do, however, have a toaster oven)… everything either gets cooked in a wok or in a pot (and that’s only used when we make soup). In case you’re wondering, most household kitchens in Taiwan don’t have an oven, since many of our traditional cuisines are made on the stove top, not in the oven.

Okay, I’m going off a little off the subject here… this recipe is super easy – prep time and all, it probably only took me about half an hour to make.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces mini farfalle pasta (they’re the cute little bowtie ones)
• 2 tablespoons of EVOO
• 8 ounces hot turkey sausage, casings removed
• 2 stalks green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups cherry/grape tomatoes, halved

I actually prepped all the ingredients the night before to save on some cooking time

Directions:

• Boil pasta as directed on package. Drain and reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet (or in my case, a wok) over medium heat. Brown sausage, breaking it up with a spatula/wooden spoon until thoroughly cooked. Take out and place on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb all the grease. Set aside.
• Using the remaining oil in skillet, add the mushrooms, garlic, green onions, 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Saute until mushrooms begin to brown.. Add the grape tomatoes and cook until they are slightly softened. Add the sausage and pasta back into the skillet and toss to mix. If the pasta seems dry, add little bits of the reserved pasta water at a time. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Divide among bowls and top with grated Parmesan cheese if desired. (I omitted this step to make it healthier)

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine

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If you saw the title of this post and said, “What?!” No fear, it simply means “spaghetti with garlic, olive oil, and chili peppers”.

I have those days where I’m starving for something quick, cheap, homemade, and healthy at the same time, as opposed to quick, expensive, and greasy takeout from some fast-food joint. That being said, this is probably going to be the easiest, simplest dish you’ll ever make. It only requires a few ingredients that most of us probably already have sitting around at home – and you can add extra ingredients to it depending on your mood (and what you have sitting around).

Traditionally, spaghetti aglio, olio, e peperoncino is only made with spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Today I felt like changing things up a bit, so I added shrimp and broccoli to mine. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can substitute any kind of pasta you have sitting at home for the spaghetti. Like today, I went to the cupboard and found less than a handful of angel hair pasta left, so I used some campanelle pasta instead.

Just an FYI – if you happen to use fresh garlic, it’ll give your breath a nice garlicky smell after you’re done eating. Maybe have some gum handy, or enjoy the dish with a friend, that way they can’t complain about your garlicky breath :)

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 8 ounces of spaghetti (or your favorite kind of pasta)
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced – if a couple of the cloves you picked are a little puny and sad looking, add another clove or two to the mix
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoon black pepper, depending on how spicy you want it
• 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes – if you’re not a big fan of super spicy foods, you can either omit the chili flakes or just add a few pinches of it

Note: the ingredients above are what goes into a traditional dish. Today I also added 1.5 cups of broccoli florets and about 10-12 large shrimp.

Directions:

• If you’re adding shrimp to dish like I did today, place them on a paper towel to absorb the moisture, then season it with salt and pepper. Sauté them in a skillet with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil under medium high heat, about 1 minute per side, until they turn nice and pink.

• If you’re also adding broccoli, sauté those under medium high heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil under they’re nice and crisp. Lightly season with salt.
• In a small bowl, combine the salt, black pepper, and chili flakes.

• Cook the pasta according to its directions. Drain.
• In a large skillet, heat oil under medium heat. Add the minced garlic to the pan. Stir constantly – make sure you don’t burn the garlic. Add the salt, black pepper, and chili flakes. Stir for about 30 seconds.
• Add pasta to the skillet, gently toss until the pasta is evenly coated with the olive oil/pepper mixture.
• Add shrimp and broccoli to pasta.

Enjoy!

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