Sausage and Zucchini Carbonara

  The other day, while lazing on the couch with my iPad, I thought it was a grand shame I had all these interesting cooking apps, and I've not tried many of recipes in them.  Taking a few minutes to browse and swipe, this marvelous dish popped up on Jamie Oliver's app.  Italian sausage.  Zucchini.  Bacon.  Lemon Zest.  Pasta.   Yeah, I was goin' have to make this one, and you might, too.  This recipe says it serves 2 - well, those servings are very generous.  I'm thinking with a salad served along side, more like 3 or 4.

Sausage and Zucchini Carbonara
Serves 2-4


Ingredients
3 Italian sausages
2 slices of bacon
8 ounces dry spaghetti (recipe called for 9, but boxes around here come in 8 & 16.  Sorry, Jamie)
2 egg yolks (use the whites for breakfast in the morning, or freeze them)
1 medium zucchini
1/2 cup heavy cream
zest from 1/2 of a lemon
2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
a small bunch fresh Italian parsley (about half a bunch sold by my store)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

  In a stock pot, or other pot large enough to boil the pasta, add lots of water and a little salt (around 2 teaspoons.)  Put the pot on the stove to boil.  Now is a good time to do your prep work.  Chop the parsley finely, and set aside.  Trim off the ends of the zucchini.  Cut the zuke in half, lengthwise, and repeat for each half.  Now you should have 4 nice spears.  Slice up the quarters, and set aside.  Chop the bacon into small pieces.  Put a large frying pan on the stove with a little bit of olive oil on medium heat to warm.  Here's the fun part - you are going to make meatballs out of the Italian sausage.  With a sharp knife (paring knife works wonders for this), slit the sausage casing and squeeze out the sausages.  Wet your hands and pull each sausage apart into 6 chunks.  Roll each chunk into a mini meatball.  You should end up with about 18 little guys.

  By now, the pasta water should be boiling.  Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, making sure to stir from time to time, to keep the pasta from sticking.  Add the meatballs to the hot pan, and saute them for about 6 minutes, or until brown all over.

  While the pasta is boiling away and the meatballs are becoming golden brown and delicious, start putting together the sauce.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and cream.  When those are thoroughly combined, whisk in the lemon zest and half of the grated Parmesan.  Add in most of the parsley to the egg mixture and stir.  Set aside.

  When the meatballs are brown, add in the zucchini slices and bacon to the frying pan.  Continue to saute until the bacon is cooked.

  The pasta should be finishing up about this time.  Carefully ladle out a cup of the pasta water and set aside.  This will be used to thin out the sauce later, if desired.  Drain the pasta in a colander.  Once drained, add the pasta to the large mixing bowl with the egg mixture.  Toss the pasta all around with tongs.  The heat from the pasta will cook the eggs and melt the cheese.  Pour the pasta and sauce into the frying pan with the meatballs, zucchini, and bacon.  Toss everything together; if the sauce is too thick for your liking, add in some of the pasta's cooking water until the consistency you desire.  Plate up the pasta and top with more of the parsley and Parmesan.  Enjoy!

Spinach Stuffed Squash or Zucchini

  This is one knock-out dish - squash dressed to the nines.  Another Paula Deen creation for you to enjoy.  It can be made with zucchini or yellow summer squash; my favorite is made with zukes, but this last trip to the store, the yellow squash was so much better than the zucchini.

Spinach Stuffed Squash or Zucchini

6-10 servings

Ingredients

3 large zucchini or 5 medium/large yellow squash  (this last batch was made with 3 large yellow squash)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup chicken flavored stuffing mix (dry - do not prepare)
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz by weight)

  Start off by preheating the oven to 400°F.

  Cut your squash in half lengthwise.  Brush the cut sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Lay  them on a lined baking sheet, with the cut side down.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Let the squash halves cool down a bit, and lower the oven temperature to 350°F.  Once the squash is just cool enough to handle, scoop out the pulp into a bowl, taking care not to break your "shells".  Lay the squash back on the baking sheet, this time, cut side up.

  In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.  Toss the diced onion in and saute until they are transparent, around 5 minutes.  (I personally like to cook mine until they turn slightly brown and take a bit of caramelized quality to them.)  At this time, add in the stuffing mix, spinach, cheese, squash pulp and sour cream, mixing everything together.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Cook for 3 minutes, and remove from the heat.  Scoop the stuffing mixture evenly as you can into each squash shell, and return to the oven to bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serving Ideas - These are great served with fried chicken livers. (Don't knock it until you try it!)  But they are pretty filling if you buy the large squash/zukes, so serving 1-2 halves as a meal isn't too shabby, either.

Helpful Tip - A potato ricer does a nice job squeezing dry thawed frozen spinach.