Jackson Jambalaya

This is post number 111 the mighty and all powerful “King of all Fishes” has allowed me to post on his website. This one is Really Good.

I have posted many old favorites we all know and maybe an equal number of at least partially original dishes over the last two years. Staying ahead of you guys has been a challenge at times but I am doing something I enjoy and remain thankful to the guy who, perhaps in a moment of unthinking action, emailed me with his response of “I guess – at least for a while” when I asked him if I could post a few recipes that included photos I took while prepping and cooking some of the things I like to eat. Some of you know how Mr. Fish and I managed to first cross paths. If you don't know, you are probably better off.

Most of the things you have seen (thanks for looking) have been dishes I would recommend. Then there is this week's dish, which I cooked a couple of weeks back. I made some errors when I prepped it that resulted in a dish that differed considerably from what I originally intended to cook. 

The eureka! outcome resulted in what I would like to think is one of the best tasting Italian dishes I have ever posted. Perhaps second only to my Cannelloni, which I just realized I have never posted. It would be nice to say what I plated was what I envisioned when I started but that would be a lie. Anyhow, when I realized I had forgotten to add two key ingredients, I kept going and the results were amazing, at least to me. My dish has no name, so maybe we can just call it:

Italian sausage with Orecchiette Pasta

Ingredients:

Italian sausage – I used three links
2 Leeks, cleaned and sliced – maybe 1 cup
1 Carrot – 1/4 inch diced I started with two carrots but only used one
1/2 stalk celery – maybe 1/2 cup, when diced
12 ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup (dry measure) Orecchiette pasta
1 cup Parsley, chopped
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoon Fennel seed
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1 Tablespoon Garlic Salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Forgotten Ingredients – not used - Heavy Cream – not shown and not used – baby spinach

Directions:

As usual, I pulled out my ingredients with the intent to make a Tuscan style sausage dish, forgetting to pull the baby spinach from the refrigerator. As you can see from the photo, I showed the heavy cream, which I intended to use for a creamy sauce then, after taking my photo, I put it back into the refrigerator to keep it cold and forgot it.

I started by cooking my pasta in salted water and pulled it when it reached an al dente state . I did not want the dish to be pasta dominant, so I only cooked 1/2 cup of pasta, which was plenty when the dish was finished.

Drain the tomatoes and set aside.

After prepping the leeks, carrot and celery, they are sauteed in butter until tender. The heavy green tops of the leeks are too tough to eat and are discarded. Once tender, set the vegetables aside.

Then the pasta.

Then the parsley

I decided to add a little more parsley over the top when it came out of the oven.

Plated and ready to eat.