Recipes

Summer Rotini in Cream Sauce

inametaphor

Summer Rotini in Cream Sauce

  • Servings: 8-10
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Our solution to too many amazing spring vegetables

Ingredients

  • 1 lb noodles (we used rotini)
  • 1 lb sausage or brats, cut into ring/pieces/whatever (we used bacon brats from a local farm; incredibly good) *
  • 2 broccoli heads, chopped **
  • 1 lb asparagus, chopped **
  • 2 T butter
  • 2 T flour or Wondra
  • 1 c milk
  • 1 c cream
  • 1/2 – 1 t seasoning ***
  • extra salt and pepper
  • shredded cheese (Romano, because I like it better than Parmesan, but whatever white cheese you like)

Directions

You can multitask this part, if you have enough burners (These can all be “set aside” in the same bowl)

  • Sautée the sausages until cooked through and browned. Set aside.
  • Steam or briefly boil vegetables until crisp tender, or the firmness you prefer. Set aside.
  • Boil noodles as directed. Set aside.

Make the white sauce (don’t multitask this part):

  1. Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and heat on the warm/low setting
  2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over med-low heat.
  3. Stir in flour and cook, stirring continuously, for two minutes.
  4. Stir in warm milk mixture slowly. When the milk is fully incorporated, add the spices. Raise the heat to medium just until bubbles start to form at the edges.
  5. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes or until desired consistency, stirring frequently.
  6. Remove from heat and taste, adjusting spicing as needed.

Mix the noodles, sausages, and vegetables all together. Top with cream sauce, shredded cheese, and maybe some sea salt and freshly ground pepper.


*Actually, if you are a mushroom person and want this to be vegetarian, you could probably saute some mushroom caps in butter or olive oil instead.

**Any green vegetables will work here; this is just what we like. And I’m honestly not sure how much asparagus it was. Both quantities should be read as “one grocery store unit” – as in, one bundle of each.

***We used a jar of what we call “tourist seasoning,” which means I went somewhere and brought it back. It was a mix of maple sugar, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and black pepper. Very good.