Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Cavatelli with lamb sausage and spinach

I haven't made it to an Easter at my parents in a while. Since the holiday is on a Sunday and you generally don't get the following Monday off, it makes it hard to be at my parents for dinner,  drive 5-7 hours and still make it to work the next morning. I was so excited when my boss gave us the day off for Good Friday and on my first day on the job! We were able to leave NY early and get to see my family an extra day. My mother even arranged Easter to begin as a brunch so that we would see everyone! We decided that we had to leave by two o'clock so that we wouldn't be getting home too late. This meant that we were going to miss the final dinner item - fresh cavatelli in home made sauce with sausages and meatballs. Luckily, I got my mom to pack me up a container of sauce and meat with some of the uncooked pasta before we left.


Once home we were too full and tired to make anything for dinner, but the next night I decided to switch things around. I had some lamb sausage in the freezer and since it is very traditional to eat lamb around Easter (and Passover which we celebrated a bit later in the week) I decided to use that for our dinner instead. This is an easy dish based on some thing I often make with chicken sausage, the lamb was amazing though! Flavorful little morsels between perfectly chewy bites of cavatelli gave the perfect savory bite. And we got to enjoy the sauce with some pasta another day!

Click through for the recipe





Cavatelli with Lamb Sausage and Spinach

1 lb of Fresh Cavatelli (you could also use Ziti or another short shaped pasta)
1 lb of lamb sausage (about 4) - removed from casing
2 lb spinach - cleaned and spun dry
1 sweet onion - sliced
1 c chicken broth
1/2 c white wine 
5 cloves of garlic 
1/4 c fresh parsley - diced

1) In a pot, bring water to a boil
2) In pan, brown sausage crumble.
3) Once cooked remove from pan and add onions - let soften before adding garlic.
4) Add the broth and wine and herbs, let come to a simmer.
5) Cook cavatelli in boiling water - if fresh pasta carefully check in about 5 min, if not follow directions on package.
6) Wilt spinach in the sauce mixture and add back sausage and cooked pasta.
7) Let simmer in sauce for a minute for serving. Add grated cheese if desired.