Arriving home from vacation just in time to cook dinner … not a perfect scenario by any means, but somehow I welcomed getting back into the routine. You know the one: scouring the fridge, freezer and pantry for anything that might remotely taste good together. Oh, don’t forget, these are where some of the best meals come from!
This one was no exception. Maybe it was because our week away was pasta-free and we could have simply dumped a can of tomato sauce on the brown rice rotini and been just as satisfied, but I don’t think so. There’s something about the flavors bursting from fresh herbs that make any dish special, and since the herbs are the one things growing well in our garden, herbs we had.
Pasta with Fresh Herbs, Chick Peas and Sausage
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Ingredients:
- 8 oz. pasta, cooked (we used brown rice rotini)
- 15-ounce can of chick peas, rinsed and drained
- 1 red pepper, grilled and chopped
- 1 onion, grilled and chopped
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 12-ounces to 1-pound sausage, grilled (we used Trader Joe’s Spinach, Fontina and Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced and cooked in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
- 3.8-ounce can black olives (Kalamatas would have been better)
- feta cheese crumbles to taste
The herbs and spices:
- 4-6 large sage leaves, chopped
- 2 large sprigs of parsley, chopped
- 1-2 large sprigs of basil, chopped
- 1 large sprig of rosemary, chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- lots of freshly ground black pepper, I mean lots
- sea salt to taste
- crushed red pepper flakes to taste
For the sauce / dressing:
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Whisk together dressing ingredients and toss everything together. Serve at room temperature. A few notes:
- Make sure you add the oil from the cooked garlic to the recipe as well… mmmmm… garlic.
- Sun-dried tomatoes would have gone into this dish if we had them, and I was thinking about them through the entire meal. Add them.
- This works great as a pasta salad the next day, but you may want to add a little more olive oil if that’s how you are planning on serving it.
- Play with this recipe: if didn’t include your favorite herb, try it. If you want to grill up that last zucchini and toss it in, then do. Post your changes in the comments so we can all enjoy them.
Photo Credit: Debbie McDuffee
