Orecchiette con salsiccia, pomodori, piselli e carote!

Tonight's dinner is one of my staples here on the island.  The only thing that is really missing from the dish is broccoli rabe (or rappini for others).  But since im on an island and many weeks away from growing my own vegetables since I'm planning on planting this weekend, I concede with what I have, which is what every great chef does.

On this edition, I want to emphasize the importance of cooking a good pasta and the little things that I do that I believe take it to the next level.  These are the little industry secrets used by restaurants and Grandmothers (Nonne) everywhere but you have to see it for yourself to get the hint.  

It starts off pretty basic...Set the pot for the water to boil and make sure you use more than enough water than pasta you have.  One of the biggest misconceptions is that if you put olive oil in your pasta water, it will keep it from sticking.  While this proves nice in theory and a little olive oil anywhere doesn't really hurt, scientifically it is mistaken.  The reason why pasta sticks together is that if you use too little water while boiling it, the starch from the Durham wheat will be extracted (which is why I will advocate the use of another technique a little further down).  This starch, which essentially is a sugar, will make the pasta stick to each other, most notably spaghetti or linguini.  This will diminish the taste of the pasta as you will have to fight to break them apart with each bite, or just be a caffone and eat the whole thing at once!

Over here at the Med Chef, we like to eat our pasta with dignity, which is why I'm going through this a bit exhaustively.  It is also important to find the right pasta to the right dish since every one has a different capacity to deal with the sauce and its environment.  For example in this dish the carrots and peas fit snugly into the orecchiette which is why it made it to my plate tonight!  So on with the recipe:

Orecchiette con salsiccia, pomodori, piselli e carote!

I first took a half of Yellow Onion and diced it fine.  I then threw it in the pan with some olive oil and let it get nice and cozy for about five minutes.  I then added about a half a cup of peas and carrots and let them settle into the part for another five minutes or so.  Then I added the sausage.  Pictured here is Ground Turkey but in the recipe I used ground pork sausage that came in the same type of wrapping.  For good measure, I didn't use the whole thing, unless you're a meat lover.  It's all about balance in a pasta dish and you shouldn't over power it with any one flavor.  I used about 1/8 of that package and I made sure to dice it up well itself.  This particular kind came frozen since there are no Salumeria's in Grenada.  

If you do have access to quality sausage, I prefer to take it out of the casing and have it open and free in its element before cooking it in a dish like this.  I feel that the flavors are hidden in the casing and why should you wait to enjoy the flavor.  So then you throw the sausage in as so and let them get crispy and brown all around.  By this point your water should be at a full and complete hard boil.  This is essential for good pasta making.  Once it is at a hard boil, and I mean when it looks like its a molten lava pit, this is when I like to throw in a healthy pinch of salt, wait for that exothermic reaction of bubbles and throw in la pasta!

Then this is the point where all the work is almost done and you get to relax and have a drink.  Yeah I said it relax and take a sip of your favorite vino bianco.  For my choice here on the island it was Trapiche's Pinot Grigio, which is exactly what I call for in my recipe as well.  The rule of thumb is don't cook with any wine that you wouldn't drink on its own.  So I took un bichiere, and I gave the dish one as well.  About a half a cup of wine went in the dish, and I let the accoutrements simmer nice and long while the pasta came to fruition.

Here is the pasta almost ready as well as the sauce!

I don't see divorce for these two in the future

Finally when the Pasta is Al Dente, and I mean has a little bite to it, we have the most important part.  Get ready because there is a marriage that's about to happen in your kitchen. Just before it is ready to eat normally, you will drain out most of the water, making sure to leave some in the pot and here is Il Matrimonio...Place the rest of the pasta with a little bit of water in the pan making sure to marry the two flavors of the starchiness of the pasta and the sweetness of the sauce.  This is the part that most cooks at home miss out on and lose essentially a lot of flavor they could enjoy every night!

And then for the final step, since I live in a warm climate, I love to enjoy some fresh tomatoes and in this case since it wasn't a tomato based sauce I diced up some plum tomatoes and threw them in on the final step along with a handful of parmigiano reggiano and Freshly cut Parsley.  And there you have it folks, Orecchiette con salsiccia, pomodori, piselli e carote!