slave's
friend Peggy brought him a zipper bag full of pasta nests to fix. So
the challenge was ON! What we have here is an easy way to do some
very fancy cooking. Now don't panic! We can get through this, just
follow step by step.
At
first the recipe slave put together called for Sausages, Cherry
Tomatoes, and Broccoli Florets. Then I found one of the guests can
not digest green vegetables, so – thinking on the feet, we
substituted carrots, they just have to be pre-cooked. That led to
doing a sauce of Roasted Garlic! Yes, it sounds hard but it will not
be.
The
most difficult part is cooking the pasta nests, which usually come
apart as soon as you cook them. Have faith, slave will show you a
great trick to create this fancy restaurant offering and impress the
hell out of guests!
Ingredients:
12
nested style pasta
5
carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
4 chicken apple
sausages cut into 1 inch pieces
Grape
tomatoes
2
tablespoons butter
2
heads of garlic, (to roast)
Olive
oil
4
ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into 6 pieces
1
cup chicken broth
3
ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
½
teaspoon ground black pepper
½
teaspoon salt
3
tbs flour
Directions:
Do
your cutting. Peel and cut the carrots into 1 inch pieces, toss with
1 tbs olive oil and ½ tsp basil into an oven safe dish.
Pre
heat
the oven to 400
degrees.
Cut
the sausages into 1 inch pieces, cover and refrigerate until needed.
To
roast the garlic:
do this earlier in the day or even the night before. Tear off a
square of aluminum foil. Place a can in center and wrap up the sides
half way with the foil.
This
makes a cup for the head of garlic.
Pour 1½ tbs olive oil over the
head and finish wrapping it up to seal.
This
will get placed directly on the oven rack to roast for 30
minutes. Go
ahead and put in the carrots at the same time.
Let
cool until needed. This imparts a fantastic taste to both the garlic
and the carrots and softens them just right for the pasta nests.
When
ready to fix dinner:
Pre-heat
oven to 350
degrees and
lightly grease 12 muffin cups.
Put
water on to boil for the pasta.
Place
a skillet over medium-high heat with about 1 tbs olive oil. Add
chicken sausage to the hot pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until
golden brown and cooked through, about 6-7
minutes.
Let
that cook, when the water boils, turn the heat down to a
simmer.
Slide in the nests in only cooking four at a time, (try to keep nest
together, they will
come apart
as they cook) about
3 minutes in a slight simmer;
Using
a slotted spoon or “spider” carefully remove the nests drain
well. Place enough noodles in a muffin cup to fill it.
Whisk
an egg, then with a pastry brush – brush this onto the nests using
it up among the nests. You want the egg to be on and in there to help
the pasta form/bake better but at the same time you don't want the
egg to cook separately on top of the noodles so make sure the egg is
brushed on rather than a little puddle on top.
Add
the carrots to the pan with sausages and cherry tomatoes, tossing to
combine. Let them warm on low
while
you make your sauce.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Making the sauce:
Squeeze
roasted garlic into a saute pan along with olive oil. The individual
cloves of garlic should be soft enough that you can squeeze them
right of their skins and into the pan. This will be like squeezing toothpaste out of the tube. Add the 2 tablespoons of butter with the remaining
olive oil and heat a minute over medium heat.
Make
a roux.
Add the flour to the saute pan and stir well, making sure to reach
all areas of the pan so that the flour is completely incorporated.
Continue to stir while cooking the mixture, or roux. It should start
to darken a bit in color.
Heat
1 cup of chicken stock. You can simply microwave it while your roux
is cooking, or you can heat the stock in a pot on the stove. Don't
let it boil.
Very
gradually pour the heated stock into your roux while whisking with
your other hand. This should be a slow
process
so that the stock has a chance to be absorbed
into the
roux without separating into clumps.
Keep
stirring: the temperature should be around medium, don't let it boil.
The sauce will start to thicken up pretty quickly.
You
should notice the sauce reduces as it thickens. Stirring frequently
will help prevent scorching, or burning.
Slowly
add the cream.
Add
the cream cheese, then the cup of cream. Stir until well mixed and
smooth. Remove the saute pan from heat.
Blending
the
sauce will also smooth out any lumps. Use either a regular blender or
immersion blender if you have it. Otherwise whip!
You
might consider grating the zest of a lemon into your sauce. This
will add a citrus note and cut some of the richness.
Stir
in the Parmesan cheese, pepper and salt. Stir until the cheese is
melted and the sauce is the desired consistency. You
want a slightly thin sauce,
because the starch from the cooking pasta will thicken the sauce.
Spoon
equal mixtures of the sausage, carrots and tomatoes into cups with
the pasta.
Spoon
2 tbs of sauce onto each cup slowly letting it sink in. If you pour
it quickly, it will run over the edge.
Place
the muffin pan in the oven and bake for 20-25
minutes
or until the sides and tops are just starting to brown.
Remove
from oven and allow the Nests to rest for 5
minutes, use
a table knife to run around the edges of each muffin cup. Then a
spoon will help get each pasta cup out of the pan and onto a plate.
Give them 2 nests per serving.
Slave
also roasted some “California mix” vegetables. Angie fixed
deviled eggs and Peggy got some cheesy bread to heat in the oven.
It
should be noted that the community oven just doesn't work right.
Warming the cheesy bread caused the fire alarms to go off, emptying
the building and summoning our favorite fire fighters! LOL.
If
slave had known they would be there, much more food would have been
fixed!
Serve
a small dish of fruit to start the meal. Simply spoon this out of a
can of peach or pear halves (use only the kind in juice not syrup).
Sprinkle a touch of cinnamon on top, cover with plastic wrap and let
chill in refrigerator while you cook.
For
a festive touch, after the meal, some fancy boxed cookies!
Slave
always closes with a statement of how much he enjoys serving his
Master Indy. It just grows stronger with every day.
socialslave
To
satisfy and restore.
To
nourish, support and maintain.
To
gratify, spoil, comfort and please,
to
nurture, assist, and sustain
…..I
cook!
Please
buy slave's cookbook:
The
Little Black Book of Indiscreet Recipes
by Dan White
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F315Y4I/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_vAT4sb0934RTM
via @amazon
