semi-peasant pasta.

peasant food seems to be a buzz word as of late, sending many stomachs a grumbling across the food divide. from those who find the term and its results barbaric to those who glorify the definition as almost the new haute cuisine of their generation. to me, peasant food simply means hearty, home-cooked meals that can fill your soul, tummy and mind and may ready you for a big old nap. they can be eaten with loved ones or slurped up on your own, but always, always cooked in one big pot kept mostly uncovered to emit an intoxicating aroma that will make you hungry even if you just ate. also they don't always involved actual "recipes."

i noticed yesterday that we had some leftover vegetables in the fridge that needed to used before their untimely passing: half a pint of some portabella mushroom, 1/4 bag of spinach and onions aplenty. i picked up some chicken sausage at traders, pulled out all my veg and some spaghetti and started cooking.

a largish skillet on mediumish heat with 2 teaspoons of garlic oil got the house smelling good instantly. added to that was the half pint of portabellos diced up, a couple of big handfuls of spinach and 1/3 of an onion.

oh and the sun-dried tomato chicken sausage of course.

i chopped up two of these and added them right to the skillet. and then added some of my usual spices.
1/4-1/2 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, red pepper flake, minced garlic and of course the above mentioned garlic olive oil. once the spices were added, i gave the veg/sausage combo a good stir and boiled some well-salted water for some spaghetti.
while i waited for the spaghetti to do its thing, i needed to sauce up my veg and sausage combo. so i brought out some recently-purchased traders vino. i drank a glass just to be sure it was safe before adding in 1/2 of cup to the pan.
along with 1/2 cup of leftover tomato sauce.

once both liquids were added, i raised the heat to a more medium-high heat to let the "sauce" cook down some and combine with the veggies and sausage. i also added in about 1/2 cup of pasta water which naturally thickens the sauce because of its high starch content. this cooked for about 5-7 minutes.
returning the pan to a more medium to medium-low heat, i added the drained pasta while of course spazzing and dropping a number of strands all over the kitchen floor. the survivors were added to the pan along with 1/4 of a brick of crumbled feta cheese.
the cheese was gently tossed in before i covered the pan for about 60 seconds so the feta semi-melted and semi-oozed into the pasta. yummy.

i know this isn't rocket science people, and that i make pasta a lot, i guess its a go-to weekday meal for us. i also know that peasant food is basically a fancier way of saying comfort food, which anyone who know me and reads this blog knows i'm more than a big fan of in my life. the thing that is different is that i think i've proved once again you can have relatively healthy, semi-quick and pretty affodrable food if you just think a little bit before you dial dominoes.

give it a try and tell me what you think:)