Tasty January Cajun Pasta!

Well, I made a good one last night. It was even better with a glass of the Cameron Hughes Meritage wine that Juli bought at Costco. Recommended! Probably the best bottle of wine we've opened in our house.

So I love a good cajun pasta recipe. I've been poking away at one for awhile, but it seems I always just end up ordering it at a restaurant and being disappointed. Most recently I had the jambalaya at rock Bottom that was really good!

So it motivated me to give it another go....but jambalaya is riced based, this time, pasta!

Ok, so here's the scoop

2 andouille sausages pre-cooked (I think they all are, but I'm no expert)
Big onion
half head garlic
can tomatoes
can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (small one)
penne pasta
celery
ground oregano, sage, thyme, fennel.
Worchestershire sauce
half a big can of olives, sliced.


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Chop and sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil
Chop the sausage into thin half coins. Think = pinky width
Dice up the celery leaves from 2 stalks.
Toss sausage and diced leaves into the sautee
Toss in a bit of sage, oregano, a bit more thyme, a bit more cumin, and a bunch of fennel (all to taste of course)
Probably add a bit more oil at this point to get the spices all nice and mingled and juicy
Get this thing going for awhile till the sausage starts getting a bit crispy on the edges


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Meanwhile, boil up your water and make the penne to be ready for the meal

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Meanwhile, crack open the can of tomatoes. Crack open the chipotle peppers
Toss the whole tomato can and half the chipotle can into a food processor

(side note: I used half a can and thought it could have been a bit spicier, but it was pretty spicy and it had good balance, so up to you what to do there)

blend up a bit. Don't puree it, I like a little texture

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Ok, so once the sautee is kickin, add the tomato sauce. Toss in the olives and the 2 chopped up celery sticks.

Cook till the the celery is al dente. I found the sauce to be a bit watery so I tried cookin' it to reduce it, but when I finally served it, and the sauce cooled, it was really thick...so perhaps dont reduce it quite as much as you think

Drain pasta, etc, and put the sauce on top of the pasta (which should be dry, and not oiled).

Enjoy!!