I'm laying in my bed on this rainy, cold miserable winter day, thinking about my poor puppy Kadie who passed away late Tuesday night due to a sudden heart condition. She was truly the happiest, liveliest, smartest and sweetest dog there ever was, and I will never forget the best friend I've lost. It's been a very hard past couple of days, and with my planless spring break now upon me, it seems things are only going to get harder. I have no idea what to do with myself right now so-- I'll post.
I love you so much kadie and miss you already :( you were truly the best friend anyone could ask for and it's not fair that your happy life was cut short. have fun up there kiddo-- I know there's a huge basket full of toys, a big yard, and so much dunkin donuts waiting for you. ♥
I'm still trying to figure out where this outrageous idea came from, but I do know that one day I woke up and said, I can make pesto with whatever I want, as long as I have a blender. I had a blender so roasted red peppers it would be. I wish I had more to say but I can't find a way to be clever or funny right now so instead, I'll just let you know how to make this delicious meal appear on your dinner table.
what you need...
1 1/2 red peppers
3 - 4 cloves garlic (to taste)
4 - 6 oz goat cheese
3 link spicy Italian sausage
1 lb penne rigati
Pepper
Salt
Crushed Red Pepper
Oregano
Olive Oil
what you need to do...
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Halve the peppers, place on baking sheet, and season with a drizzle of oil, and a dash of salt and pepper. Place in oven and allow to roast, checking and turning often, until both sides have a nice char. (To get the char and speed up the process a bit, I roasted the peppers for about 10 - 15 minutes, turning often. At the end, I turned the broiler to high and, keeping a close watch, allowed the peppers to char, turning once). Remove from oven and set to cool.
2. Meanwhile, cut sausage into small rounds and cook in medium pan over medium heat until almost fully cooked. Boil salted water on separate burner.
3. While the sausage is cooking, the peppers should have cooled enough to blend. Ina blender, combine peppers, 1 - 2 tbs oil, 3 - 4 whole cloves (depending on size and taste) of garlic, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste and oregano. Replace cover and blend (being sure to hold cover on tightly) until the mixture is smooth. Taste and adjust accordingly with more garlic, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and oregano. If the mixture is
too garlicy after your first blend, you can add a handful of walnuts (as you would with pesto) to cut the flavor. But starting out with 3 cloves should be sufficient without being overwhelming.
4. When pesto is ready, and sausage is almost finished, boil pasta as directed on box and strain. Return to pan on warm burner and mix in red pepper pesto, sausage and 3 oz of the goat cheese. Stir constantly until the goat cheese is starting to melt and blend with the pesto (you may need to turn the burner back on low).
5 (optional). Place all ingredients in a baking pan, top with goat cheese and place under broiler for about 3 minutes, or until the cheese starts to char ever so slightly.
6. If you choose not to bake the pasta, top with sprinkles of fresh goat cheese and a dash of crushed red pepper and serve while hot!
Enjoy!
I've made them twice since then, once with bacon (Dan's idea) and once without (my idea). Naturally, Dan liked them better with bacon, and I did not (mainly because bacon, in my mind, seems to deplete any sense of nutrition these started out with. Either way, they were delicious. We first paired them with simple grilled BBQ chicken, and then even made a raging plethora of them and ate them as a main course. (Yes, we were still hungry after, so I'm not sure if I recommend this).
