We love pasta dishes that start with onions or leeks and don’t have tomatoes. More posts to come. For tonight, this is one we just made recently and it was a hit.
I like La Molisana pasta, I buy it on Amazon (don’t judge me) because you can get this really cool shape called Mafalda Corta – it’s perfect here but large shells or really any cut pasta (ie not long strands) would work.
With leeks, it’s so important to rinse – they grow in very sandy soil and it can really hide in there. Our trick is to slice the leeks (white and light green parts only) and put them in a big bowl of water. Let the leeks sit at the surface, lifting them gently out of the bowl and shaking off the water as you add them to the pan. All the dirt will go to the bottom of the bowl – you’ll be surprised how much grit there is.
- olive oil
- 4 sausages – we used Oktoberfest, but any flavour would work
- 3 leeks, sliced and rinsed well
- a bunch of swiss chard (150-200 grams of leaves), stems removed and sliced in to 1 cm strips
- 450 grams shaped pasta
- Parmesan cheese to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
Twist each sausage in half in the middle, as if you’re making a balloon animal (seriously this is the best way to describe it that I can think of). Twist each half in half again, and squeeze out the “meatball” from the sausage casing. Each sausage should make four meatballs with this cheater twisting/squeezing method.
Heat a tbsp or so of olive oil in a large sauté pan and add the leeks. Cook until they’re starting to soften. At the same time, start a large pasta pot of water on high heat.
Add the sausage “meatballs” to the sauté pan and keep the heat up so the sausages brown a little – the leeks can take it. Don’t worry if the sausages start to break up a little bit, that’s a good thing. You can turn the pan down to medium-low once there’s some browning.
Make sure to salt your pasta water well and cook the pasta just a little short of al denté.
Back in the sauté pan, add the swiss chard at the same time as you drop the pasta in the pasta water. The chard will have time to cook while the pasta cooks.
When the pasta is not quite ready but almost, drain it – BUT – put a mug underneath your colander to catch a good cup of that starchy pasta water. Add the pasta to your sauté pan and add about 1/2 cup of that pasta water to loosen everything up. This will be come the sauce and your family won’t believe that you made it with water (also why it’s important to salt your pasta water).
Quickly stir everything together and serve, this will hold but not for long. Add parmesan, salt and pepper at the table.
Serves 4.
Home on the Ridge 