Arugula Pasta with Fennel Sausage and Tomato & some complaints

No, don’t worry. The complaints weren’t about this recipe for Arugula Pasta with Fennel Sausage and Tomato. That one got some cheers!

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Can I take a tiny little bit of your time to complain? To grumble? To nag? To wail and lament?
[I promise, the recipe will make up for it.]

Because we have ants! Like thousands. Ants. Ants. Ants. And more of those microscopic little creatures. Ants. Literally millions.

And no, that’s no exaggeration. One colony can house millions of those tiny, hardworking, but so super annoying 99 million years old insects. And if you live in SoCal too, or had troubles with them in the past, you know how strong of a mood influencers they are. I mean, they’re responsible for the most lively discussion on Nextdoor, the neighborhood app.

It’s not really that we’re so sloppy and make a mess of our house; the ants were awaiting us and came in on the second day we lived there.

They love the soft, canned cat food. Crumbs of cheese on our counter. Bits of cooked food leftover on the plates. Cat’s candy. During the past weeks we became obsessive serial killers eviscerating pheromone trails, to found out that they now like the dry cat food too and were partying in the big box were we keep said food. That was a great start of the day.

So we changed our routine to tidy up, dust off, wipe down after all things food related. Immediately. We keep the dishwasher firmly closed. Yep, they’re in there too. We train the cats to eat a bit less sloppy. No luck here. Neither in having them to eat their crumbs. And I even try to wipe down my stove after each cooking, and that’s huge, as it’s one of the cores I detest most.

But I didn’t mind doing so after a creative outburst in which I emptied out the freezer a bit, used a large grasp of arugula left over from a cooking class and chopped up some of the tomatoes that had been on the counter for a while and ignored by the ants too.

This Arugula Pasta with Fennel Sausage and Tomato is simply too good not to share.

Arugula Pasta with Fennel Sausages and TOMATOES -- illustration and recipe by EDIE EATS by Edith Dourleijn

Arugula Pasta with Fennel Sausage and Tomato

Why limit yourself and use arugula in salads only? The sturdy nutty leaves are really nice when heat up too. I stirred them in the pasta in the last minute, so they wilted a bit. 

I used:
120 gr penne
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion
2 + 2 fennel sausages (I had home-made ones, but you can also use another flavorful sausage)
3-4 tomatoes
2 hands full arugula
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt + pepper
red chili flakes to taste

I did:
For the pasta, bring a pot with water to a boil. Salt it and cook the penne according to the described time on the box.

Start with the onion. Peel and dice and cook in the onion for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Remove from the pan.

Sauté the sausage. Turn up the heat underneath your pan. Add some more olive oil and crumble or chop the fennel sausages and sauté on high heat until browned on all sides.

Add tomatoes after chopping them in small pieces. Add onions too. Let cook for a few minutes on medium heat.

Mix all. Crunch fennel seeds, thyme with some salt and pepper in a mortar and pestle. Add about half of this mixture in the pan. Check the pasta, drain and add to the pan too. Stir in the arugula and add more of your spice mix and red chili flakes to taste.

Enjoy!

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Do you like pasta? Why don’t you give my other pasta recipes a try? 

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