Sausage Mushroom Caps

This is a Lizzie invention

Whole mushrooms
Italian sausage
Cream cheese
Salt to taste

Wash mushrooms and remove stems. Cook sausage and mushroom stems. Add cream cheese and sprinkle with salt. Put mixture in mushroom caps and bake for 20 min. at 400.

Pasta Campagnola

This recipe is probably close to being our favorite, partly because it's so good, and partly because it has a great story. Back in February of 2009, we went to this amazing little restaurant in the Tuscan countryside

Our bus driver had quite a bit of trouble finding the place and our bus even got stuck trying to get there. We had come from being in Rome where we were not super impressed with the food and were still looking for that to-die-for Italian meal.

Our group (we were chaperones for a highschool boy's basketball team) had the place to ourselves for lunch and they brought us out the most amazing meal.


After we were back in the States, my friend Donna, emailed the restaurant and asked if we could have the recipe. They sent back a list of ingredients (some in English, some in Italian). I found the email and here is what it said:

thank you for your compliments and sorry for my english......its called pasta campagnola and this are the ingredients

1.butter(burro)

2.meat sauce(pork)(salsiccia)

3.liquid milk(panna)

4.piper(pepe)

5.prezemolo(i dont know how do u call it)lol.

So, we had an idea of what to look for and Jon and I went on another internet quest to find something similar. The closest we came was one by Mario Batali, which we sort of combined with the info we had in the email. Every time we eat this, it takes us back to that amazing time and place.

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp. butter

1 onion, diced

1 lb. Italian sausage (special kind like parsley & parmesan)

1 c. white wine

1 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. chicken stock

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

salt & pepper

fresh grated Parmesan cheese

2 pkgs. frozen ricotta cavatelli

Heat olive oil and butter, saute onion, cook sausage (casings removed) slowly breaking apart and until it loses pink color. Add white wine, then cream, chicken stock, tomato paste and salt and pepper. Serve over cavatelli with fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Crusty bread and a glass of Italian wine are a must!

Smoked Sausage Cassoulet

This comes from a crock-pot cook book we have by Southern Living. It is so good with a loaf of crusty bread and a simple green salad. It tastes even better if you make it a day ahead of time.

1 lb. lean boneless pork loin roast
2 bacon slices
2 c. chopped onion
1 t. dried thyme
½ t. dried rosemary
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. salt
½ t. pepper
2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes, drained
2 (15 oz) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
½ lb. smoked sausage, cut into cubes
Shredded parmesan cheese

Cut pork loin into 1 inch cubes. Cook bacon in large skillet over med-high heat until crisp, remove bacon from skillet, crumble and set aside. Add onion, thyme, rosemary and garlic to bacon drippings in skillet – saute 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in crumbled bacon, salt, pepper, tomatoes, bring to a boil. Remove from heat, set aside. Mash half the beans with a potato masher until chunky. Combine mashed beans, remaining half of beans, pork loin and sausage and mix well. Place half of bean mixture in slow cooker, top with half of tomato mixture. Repeat layers, cover with lid and cook on high setting for 1 hour. Reduce to low heat setting and cook 4 hours. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Italian Sausage w/ Cavatappi

This recipe came from our friends Greg & Tricia. Tricia is Italian, Greg is Polish, they are both great cooks and share our love of cooking together.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
¾ lb. Italian sausage
16 oz. can Italian style diced tomatoes
½ c. heavy cream
¼ c. white wine
1 lb. cavatappi (or cellentani)
Grated parmesan cheese

Warm olive oil over med-low heat in large sauté pan. Add the sausage (removed from casings) and cook slowly, breaking sausage into bits until it loses its raw color (~5 minutes). Stir in the tomatoes and raise the heat to medium and cook uncovered until the tomatoes have softened (5-10 minutes). Stir in the cream and wine and simmer briefly (~3 minutes). Season with salt & pepper and serve with cavatappi pasta (cork-screw shaped pasta). Serve with grated parmesan cheese.