P is for Pasta: Pasta with Escarole, White Beans and Veggie Sausage (Jennifer)

Hi everyone,

Hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's Day and ate your fair share of chocolate! Isn't that the best part of Valentine's Day? Whether you bought the chocolate yourself or not. : )

Well, this week Jessica gave me an ingredient that could have been interpreted in any number of different ways. Pasta comes in such a variety of shapes, sizes, and textures and furthermore, can be dressed, coated or slathered in any number of different sauces. It's like you're Picasso trying to decide which color and which brush to paint with--the possibilities are endless!

I decided to go with a very simple, non-fancy way to eat pasta. Simple flavors, fresh ingredients, light sauce. No matter which way you decide to do it, pasta is a delicious, filling and hearty ingredient that would do for any kind of weeknight or weekend dinner! Buon Appetito!
 Pasta with Escarole, White Beans and Chicken Sausage
adapted from Ellie Krieger's book, The Food You Crave

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound whole-wheat pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped, about 1 cup
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (I used about 4-5 garlic cloves)
• 6 ounces lowfat Italian-style chicken sausage, casings removed, crumbled (I used veggie Italian sausage that was sliced instead)
• 1 medium head escarole, rinsed, drained and chopped, about 8 cups
• 1(14-ounce) can low-sodium cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I used vegetable broth instead)
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves (I didn't have any, so I didn't use sage-though I love sage!)
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 ounce grated Parmesan

Directions

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.

Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large, deep saute pan or 8-quart stockpot. Saute the onion until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook an additional 1 minute.

Stir in the sausage and cook until heated through and browned, about 4 minutes. Add the escarole and cook until wilted, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the beans, 1 cup of chicken stock, sage and red pepper flakes and simmer until the mixture is heated through and liquid is slightly reduced.

Add the sausage-bean mixture to pasta and toss well, loosening with the additional 1/2 cup chicken stock if necessary. Season with freshly ground pepper and salt, to taste. Divide, top with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Jessica's secret ingredient next week is QUINOA!!

Review: I really enjoyed this light and hearty pasta dish! It wasn't a huge flavor-maker, but I thought the flavors were subtle but satisfying enough. I also thought the pasta did well over the next few days as the flavors of the light sauce had a chance to really soak into the pasta. Overall, it was a good and healthy one!