018: spinach alfredo pasta with italian sausage

so i had some leftover italian sausage from this recipe, and decided to take a page out of my boyfriend's mother's book and do a spin off a recipe she made. since i usually cook for one, these are the proportions i made for approximately 2-3 servings, though the recipe could feasibly be expanded easily to feed more. cook time was about 20 minutes.




equipment:
12" skillet
spatula (heat proof)
colander


ingredients:
2 italian sausage with spinach and mozzarella (i used something similar to this, though any italian sausage will suffice)
2 c. pasta (i used bowtie)
1 to 1 and 1/2 c. alfredo sauce (i cheated and used store-bought, though you can certainly make your own from scratch)
handful of fresh spinach
water


steps:
1.) heat italian sausage in 1/4" water in your skillet over medium heat.

2.) when your sausage is thoroughly heated, add the pasta to the skillet.

3.) add enough water (room temperature) to the skillet to cover the pasta. keeping the pasta cooking with the sausage adds fantastic flavor to the pasta itself.

4.) when the pasta is cooked (al dente), drain the excess water from the skillet using either the lid of the skillet or a colander.

5.) add the alfredo sauce over the top of the sausage and pasta in the skillet over low heat.

6.) when the sauce is warm, add the spinach and mix it in, just to the point where it starts to get tender. stir it all together and serve hot.



time: 20 minutes cook time
difficulty: 2 (1 being easiest, 5 being hardest)
rating: ♦♦♦♦1/2 (4.5 stars out of 5)
suggestions for variation: garlic, crushed red pepper, oregano, and basil to taste. try with mozzarella sprinkled on top?, vary types of sausage used


enjoy!
-kl