Italian Sausage & Veggie Fritatta

IMG_1444This is a great full flavored fritatta that works for breakfast or dinner.  Fritattas are a great easy go to when you need a quick and flavorful meal. This was one of those I threw together with ingredients I had in the refrigerator.  For breakfast or brunch you can serve it with roasted breakfast potatoes, fruit or a muffin. For dinner it is great with a nice arugula salad with balsamic dressing. Don’t cut the veggies in this recipe too small, you want this to be a rustic dish.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

You will need:

  • 1/2 green bell pepper chopped
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper chopped (or any other color pepper you choose)IMG_1436
  • 1 small crookneck squash (yellow squash) chopped
  • 1 medium tomato chopped into 1″ pieces
  • 2 mild Italian sausages removed from their casings
  • 1 shallot diced (or white onion)
  • 1 large garlic clove diced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 5 large eggs
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Directions:

  • Saute your Italian sausage in 10″ oven safe saute pan. Break up into pieces and saute until lightly browned.
  • While sausage cooks, chop your vegetables.
  • When sausage is cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
  • Add  2 tbsp olive oil to pan, saute shallot, garlic, peppers and squash in pan until they start to caramelize.  Add Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.IMG_1437
  • When veggies start to caramelize, add tomatoes and sausage into pan and cook with veggies until tomatoes just start to soften.
  • Turn heat on pan down to medium low.
  • Beat your eggs and add a pinch of salt and pepper
  • Pour egg mixture over veggie and sausage mixture and gently move eggs throughout mixture and then let sit on heat and begin to cook.
  • When egg mixture has partially cooked on edges and bottom, move pan to your preheated oven and allow to finish cooking – about 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye on your fritatta and do not let your eggs overcook.
  • Remove cooked fritatta from oven and let set about 5 minutes before slicing.IMG_1442

Orecchiette with Mushrooms, Asparagus, Capers and Arrabiatta Sauce

This is a fantastic quick dinner to make on a work night.  It took me less than an hour to pull it all together. This quick version uses a store bought arrabiatta sauce that I tweak a bit for more flavor. Of course, you can make your own – but for me, that’s a weekend project.  Arrabiatta is a slightly spicy marinara sauce that is great for pasta dishes with vegetables, it adds a bit of zip to the dish.  You can serve this with a quick salad. This time I just threw together some garlic Parmesan puffs and a glass of wine! Voila! (Wait, that’s French, not Italian……)

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You will need:

  • 1/2 of a 1 lb box of good quality Orecchiette pasta
  • One 24 oz jar of Arrabiatta sauce (shhhh, I used the private selection variety sold at  Ralphs)
  • 3 baby portabellas cut into about 1 inch pieces
  • About 10 shitake mushrooms (about 2-3 oz) cut into pieces
  • About 15 thin stalks of asparagus, bottom 3 inches trimmed off.  Cut stalks into 1 inch pieces
  • 1/2 white onion chopped
  • 2 tbsp capers
  • Three large cloves of garlic
  • 3/4 cup white wine (don’t use Chardonnay, use Pinot Grigio or similar)
  • 3/4 cup chicken (or vegetable) stock
  • Salt and pepper
  • Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

 Pasta:

  • Get you pasta started in boiling, salted water

Prepare your sauce:

  • Put about 4 tbsp olive oil in a large deep frying pan on medium/high heat
  • Add chopped onion, potabellas and shitake mushrooms
  • Saute for about 5-7 minutes
  • Add cut asparagus and saute another 2-3 minutes
  • Add three cloves garlic crushed and stir until you can smell the aromas of the garlic (do not let garlic burn or brown)
  • Add 24 oz jar of arrabiatta sauce and stir to mix
  • Then add your 3/4 cup white wine and 3/4 cup chicken stock (or veggie stock)
  • Let simmer on low for 5 minutes
  • Add your capers and salt and pepper to taste
  • Let simmer while pasta finishes cooking (do not over cook pasta, pasta should be al dente)
  • Then add drained, cooked pasta to your sauce, stir and let simmer about 3-4 more minutes
  • Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to finish and serve