Fusilli with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Kale and Carrots

What a special treat to get locally-made artisan sausage in today's CSA box! And this sausage is truly special. It was made just two weeks ago from a locally-raised sow bred from award-winning stock. The sausage is very fresh, and pretty lean as sausage goes. You can really taste the pork in this finely-balanced and subtly-spiced product.

This recipe uses several of the vegetables in today's box as well as the sausage to make a delicious pasta entree. You can use either the sweet Italian or the hot Italian sausage, or you can omit the sausage entirely if you prefer. You'll still end up with a flavorful dish.

1 lb Italian sausage
1-2 T olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1-2 zucchini, washed and sliced
4-6 oz kale, washed and chopped
1 lb fusilli pasta
1/2-2/3 C pasta cooking water
1/2 C heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
parmesan cheese, optional

1. Heat 1 T olive oil in a large skillet. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite-sized chucks (or smaller), until done. Remove the sausage from the skillet and set aside.

2. If necessary, heat a little more oil in the skillet. Add the onions and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.

3. Add the sliced carrots to the skillet. Turn down the heat, cover, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring once or twice.

4. Add the zucchini, cover again, and cook for 3 minutes more, stirring once or twice.

5. Add the kale, cover again and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the kale just wilts. Turn off the heat.

6. Return the cooked sausage to the skillet. [You can do everything up to this point ahead of time if you wish. Cool the skillet and its contents and refrigerate until you're ready to cook the pasta.]

7. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fusilli. Cook according to directions. [You can substitute spaghetti, linguini, fettuccini, or practically any pasta shape you prefer.]

8. Just before the pasta is done cooking, turn the heat on again under the sausage and vegetable mixture.

9. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 C of pasta water.

10. Add 1/2 C pasta cooking water and 1/2 C heavy cream to the skillet with the sausage and vegetables. Stir and cook for 1 minute.

11. Add the cooked, drained pasta, and stir to combine with the sausage and vegetable mixture. Stir constantly as the liquid begins to reduce, becomes very thick, and sticks to the pasta. Add a little more pasta water if necessary.

12. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Today's bounty included:

Sausage from Nancee Siebert's sow prepared by Fryer's Meats and distributed by Jennie Cook;

French fingerling potatoes from Weiser Family Farms;

From Sage Mountain Farm: organic siberian kale, red sails lettuce, spinach, and radishes;

From JR Organics: organic celery, chard, and red leaf lettuce;

From Jaime Farms: Cauliflower, free-range eggs, hot-house zucchini, carrots, and cilantro; and

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Navel oranges.

Enjoy!

Shelley

Mixed Squash Galette

A galette is like a pie or tart only not as fancy. Most people think of galettes as dessert, but they can just as easily be made with savory ingredients like the one I made today.

I love that there's no wasted dough with a galette, and you can made it whatever shape you like. You just roll out the dough, arrange the filling, fold up the sides, and bake. Also, you can put almost anything you want inside, so long as it isn't too wet. So it's a great vehicle for creativity in the kitchen.

You can use any pie crust dough recipe you're comfortable with or you can buy an unbaked, frozen crust. You can even substitute filo dough and produce a similar product.

For my galette, I used slices of zucchini, butternut squash, onion, and tomato, as well as two leaves of kale. I sauteed all of the vegetables, except the tomato, to soften them a little. However, with the exception of the kale, this step is not necessary if you like your vegetables crunchy.

For the crust:

1-1/2 C flour
1 t salt
1 stick very cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 T ice water

1. Place the flour and salt in the work bowl of a food processor and process for 1-2 seconds until combined.

2. Add the butter and process until the butter is evenly distributed in small pebbles throughout the flour.

3. Add 2-3 T ice water and process just until the dough will hold together. Test this by pinching a small amount of dough between your fingers. If it sticks together, it's been processed enough. If not, process in a little more ice water and test again.

4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and press the dough together. Wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to fill the galette.

For the galette:

1-2 T olive oil
1-2 medium zucchini, sliced in 1/4" slices
1/3 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced in 1/4" slices
1 medium onion, sliced crosswise in 1/4" slices
2-3 leaves kale, sliced crosswise 1/4-1/2"
1 large tomato, cut crosswise in 1/4" slices
salt and pepper to taste
1 recipe pie crust (see above)
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. In a large skillet, heat the oil and briefly saute the zucchini, butternut squash, and onion slices in a single layer on both slices until barely tender. Sprinkle them with a little salt while they're cooking. Cook slices in several batches, if necessary. Remove from the skillet and cool.

3. In the same skillet, adding a little extra oil if necessary, saute the kale until wilted. Season with a little salt and pepper while cooking. When done, remove from the skillet to cool.

4. Remove the pie crust dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured pastry cloth or cheet of wax paper. Transfer the dough to a baking sheet.

5. Layer the slices of zucchini, butternut squash, and onions, slightly overlapping each other in the center of the dough, leaving about 2" of dough all the way around. Mix in the wilted kale. Top with a layer of sliced tomatoes.

6. Carefully fold up the edges of the dough. It's fine if the dough pleats a little.

7. Beat the egg in a cup and brush the dough with the beaten egg. Sprinkle a little kosher or large grain salt on the dough, if desired, and back at 425 F for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 375 F and bake until the crust is golden, above 30-40 minutes longer.

Serve hot, warm, room temperature, or cold. This recipe makes 4 generous servings.

You can sprinkle in any herbs you like when you're arranging the vegetables. You can also sprinkle grated cheese over the vegetables for more protein and flavor.

Don't hesitate to experiment with fillings of your own. It's all good.

Today's bounty included:

From Sage Mountain Farm: Hybrid tomatoes, sweet candy onions, Fingerling potatoes, Rainbow Swiss chard, and garlic.

From Underwood Family Farms: Galia melon, zucchini, Brandywine tomatoes, green cabbage, kale, yellow zucchini, butternut squash, green leaf lettuce, Blue Lake beans, round carrots, golden beets and candy beets.

From Rancho Santa Cecilia: Hass avocados and lemons.

And from Silver Lake Farms: mustard and arugula microgreens.

Enjoy!

Shelley