Better Than Expected
Oct. 4th, 2022 09:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe: Merguez Baked Pasta.
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lb merguez sausages (I used 12 oz as that was the package size)
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic (Ha! I used... more.)
1 Tbsp tomato paste (I used about 1/4 cup house-made since that was the size cut off from the frozen block)
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2x28-oz cans tomato purée
2-3 tsp harissa
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups water
1 lb pasta: cavatelli or rigatoni
12 oz fresh mozzarella, in 1/2" cubes
6 oz fresh feta, ditto
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves for garnish
Heat oven to 425°. In a large pot (No, not that one - the really large one) warm olive oil over medium heat. Crumble or slice in sausage and break up pieces as needed. Cook, stirring, until starting to brown - 6 to 8 minutes. Remove sausage from pan and set aside on a plate.
Add onions (?) to pot, reduce heat to low, and cook about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Stir in tomato paste and paprika, and cook 1 minute more to caramelize. Add tomato purée and simmer to thicken, about 8 minutes. Add harissa according to taste and strength; season with salt as needed.
Add 1 1/2 cups water and pasta to the same pot. Bring to a simmer while stirring and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in half the mozzarella. Transfer to a 9x13 baking dish and bake for 18 minutes. Top with remaining mozzarella and all the feta. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes longer to melt the cheese. Let cool 5 minutes, sprinkle with cilantro, and serve.
What worked: I made this for a homeowners' meeting and everyone liked it, three people having seconds. I thought it would be red stodge but while I wouldn't call it ground-breaking, it wasn't uninteresting.
We didn't miss the omitted 1/4 lb meat. I snipped the thin sausages with shears and it was quicker and easier than uncasing. I was glad I used the very large pot; otherwise there would have been tomato spatter all over the stovetop from it simmering and blorping.
What didn't: There are a couple transcription problems with this recipe, one minor and one very major. It calls for 1 onion in the ingredients, but the directions refer to "onions". Multiple recipe readings confirm that it never tells you to add back the merguez! The picture shows it, so I am sure it is not there to simply create lamb oil in the pot. I added it back in after the harissa and tomato paste.
I was going to add in a chopped bell pepper, but I forgot. Our current harissa mix apparently isn't very hot; it could have used more chile pepper, plus maybe some cumin. The pasta didn't seem cooked after 18 minutes, so I put it back for an additional 10 or so.
Will I make it again? People liked it, so probably. Only when serving more than two of us though as we still have three days' worth of lunch leftovers...
1/4 cup olive oil
1 lb merguez sausages (I used 12 oz as that was the package size)
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic (Ha! I used... more.)
1 Tbsp tomato paste (I used about 1/4 cup house-made since that was the size cut off from the frozen block)
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2x28-oz cans tomato purée
2-3 tsp harissa
salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups water
1 lb pasta: cavatelli or rigatoni
12 oz fresh mozzarella, in 1/2" cubes
6 oz fresh feta, ditto
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves for garnish
Heat oven to 425°. In a large pot (No, not that one - the really large one) warm olive oil over medium heat. Crumble or slice in sausage and break up pieces as needed. Cook, stirring, until starting to brown - 6 to 8 minutes. Remove sausage from pan and set aside on a plate.
Add onions (?) to pot, reduce heat to low, and cook about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Stir in tomato paste and paprika, and cook 1 minute more to caramelize. Add tomato purée and simmer to thicken, about 8 minutes. Add harissa according to taste and strength; season with salt as needed.
Add 1 1/2 cups water and pasta to the same pot. Bring to a simmer while stirring and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in half the mozzarella. Transfer to a 9x13 baking dish and bake for 18 minutes. Top with remaining mozzarella and all the feta. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes longer to melt the cheese. Let cool 5 minutes, sprinkle with cilantro, and serve.
What worked: I made this for a homeowners' meeting and everyone liked it, three people having seconds. I thought it would be red stodge but while I wouldn't call it ground-breaking, it wasn't uninteresting.
We didn't miss the omitted 1/4 lb meat. I snipped the thin sausages with shears and it was quicker and easier than uncasing. I was glad I used the very large pot; otherwise there would have been tomato spatter all over the stovetop from it simmering and blorping.
What didn't: There are a couple transcription problems with this recipe, one minor and one very major. It calls for 1 onion in the ingredients, but the directions refer to "onions". Multiple recipe readings confirm that it never tells you to add back the merguez! The picture shows it, so I am sure it is not there to simply create lamb oil in the pot. I added it back in after the harissa and tomato paste.
I was going to add in a chopped bell pepper, but I forgot. Our current harissa mix apparently isn't very hot; it could have used more chile pepper, plus maybe some cumin. The pasta didn't seem cooked after 18 minutes, so I put it back for an additional 10 or so.
Will I make it again? People liked it, so probably. Only when serving more than two of us though as we still have three days' worth of lunch leftovers...
