PASTA with ASIAGO SAUCE

By Cheesemonger Evalina

This quick weeknight 2-serving dinner is simple and has all the good stuff (but also lends itself to substitutions!) : Kale, Sausage, Cheese. What more do you need?

INGREDIENTS:

• 6oz pasta

• 2oz kale (2 cups chopped)

• 2oz Aged Asiago (1 cup finely grated)

• ½ pound Italian sausage

• 4 oz white wine (1/2 c)

• 2 T butter

• pinch salt

• Ground black pepper

PREPARATION

Prep – Boil water, and cook your favorite pasta shape (I’m using Rigatoni). Drain, setting aside ½ cup of the pasta water for later. Rinse and chop up the kale, then grate up your Asiago (I use a food processor to speed things along).

While pasta cooks, heat up a skillet and break up sausage links into crumbly chunks (you can also slice it into disks). Cook until they start to get crispy. Set aside sausage.

Make the sauce – pour wine into a small saucepan, and simmer on low until reduced to about half. Add in the butter, salt, and pasta water from step 1, and bring to a boil on medium heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes and then dump in the cooked pasta and all but 2 tablespoons of the Asiago. Turn temp back to low and cook for 2 minutes.

As the sauce finishes – heat up that greasy sausage skillet from step 2 and throw the kale on. We want it to cook for only a few minutes, so it still has a nice crisp texture, but also takes on some delicious sausage flavor.

Finally – Dish the pasta into serving bowls, top with a layer of kale, sausage crumbles, the rest of the Asiago, and finish with a sprinkle of black pepper.