I call this weeks easy pasta meal Pasta Rosa because the sauce is slightly pink. The combination of sausage and shrimp in the creamy sauce makes for great family cooking or entertaining.
EASY RECIPE
¾ lb Pork or Turkey hot Italian sausage.
12 shrimp peeled and deveined.
2 tsp garlic minced.
2 green onions slit down the middle and chopped
2 Tbsp (and a little extra for garnish) chopped flat leaf parsley.
2 mushrooms sliced.
½ tsp oregano.
½ cup half and half
15 oz can of stewed tomatoes chopped.
¼ cup of Sherry.
1 lb Farfalle pasta (bow tie shape) – heat water to boil and while cooking the following ingredients boil pasta per directions on box.
Brown the sausage, drain most of the grease and set aside the sausage.
In same pan, with tablespoon or so of sausage grease, saute’ the green onion, mushrooms and garlic, then add chopped tomatoes and sauce. Bring ingredients to high simmer and add the browned sausage and the half and half. Reduce to a low simmer for a few minutes and add the shrimp. Bring to high simmer again for about 5 minutes to cook the shrimp.
Place a portion of pasta on each plate, ladle sauce with shrimp on top of the pasta, add a little parsley and parmesan cheese, and you are ready to serve a great easy recipe.
My wife suggested adding chopped kalamata, could be great but have not tried it yet.
AND STUFF
You can run but you can’t hide.
My oldest son was and is a very good surfer. When he was 14, and getting out of middle school, I took him to Fiji to surf Cloud Break. If you do not know, Cloud Break is a surfing spot that is at least 5 miles out in the ocean off the coast. The waves are huge because the water goes from deep to nothing as it hits a coral reef in the middle of the ocean. But, that’s a story for another time.
We left LAX on a great international airline which flew us to Tahiti, where as it turns out we were to transfer onto a not so great regional airline. After getting into the terminal in Tahiti we located the check-in counter for our plane, but no one was there. We looked for a flight board, but again, no luck. So, we went to a larger airline’s desk and asked if they knew anything about our flight. Without the slightest hint of humor, the counter clerk informed us the plane would eventually show up. Nice.
So, we sat. We got bored, and then we got hungry. We convinced the customs official into letting us go outside to walk around and get a candy bar. After a few hours of anxiety we saw a 737 land and taxi up to our area. Sure enough, a counter person showed up for our airline and we were off to Fiji. Well, not quite. The jet landed just about every time it spotted an island. Before getting to Fiji, we landed in Samoa, and then Cook Islands. I could be wrong, but it seemed like the runway was grass in Cook Islands. But no matter, the little terminal was great, and they even had an island band playing while we waited for the next leg of the flight. Eventually, the plane ran out of islands to land on, and there we were landing in Fiji.
No rest for the surfer though, because after landing and clearing customs, we had to take a minibus from Nadi to the Coral Coast. We went from city traffic to small paved highway roads, and finally narrow dirt roads. But, eventually we arrived at our lodging which is known as a surfer destination. After checking in and unpacking, and having flown through the International Dateline, we really did not know what time or day it was, so there was only one thing to do, hit the water.
The water was crystal clear and as warm as a bathtub. Unlike the Pacific Ocean abutting California, because of the reef, and the warm water you could literally sit in the water and relax.
The next day we were off to Cloud Break. But, that’s a story for another time.
As you have likely surmised by now the hotel was remote, on an island that is fairly remote. There was a nice hotel restaurant that was open during meal times, and a snack bar that served grilled cheese sandwiches. Our eating choices wore thin pretty quickly. So we decided to take the local’s bus into town to buy some food. The open air bus meandered through the villages and we could see the school children playing soccer on this island paradise.
After purchasing provisions we boarded a bus for the return. Eventually, the bus pulled up to our surfer hotel. As the bus slowed to stop, my son froze and dropped in his seat. I was pretty sure there were no Interpol warrants out for my young son, but to be on the safe side I asked him what was wrong. My son whispered to me “over there, look”! I looked but saw only a group of new arrivals to the hotel. I was able to get my son to sit up and having his attention I again asked him what’s up. My son responded, “see that lady walking over, that’s my teacher!”
So, let’s recap, we took multiple jets, traveled across date line, landed on numerous islands, stayed at a surf camp that is accessible by a open air bus that travels over dirt roads, and there at our hotel appeared my son’s 8th grade teacher. To be fair I suspect his teacher, having gotten as far away as possible from the classroom, was more disappointed to see my son than he was to see her. Eventually, they met up and everyone had a big laugh.
That’s my ‘you can run but you can’t hide’ story. While enjoying my easy recipe meal why not strike up a conversation about the surprise meetings you have had on vacation.
Good Eating and Table Talk,
Roger
