I have to admit, I’m a serious food magazine hoarder. Really, you should see me whenever I find a new Cooking Light or Food Network magazine in the mail- It feels like Christmas! I end up storing them in my designated cookbook bookcase (only me?) and might make one or *gasp* two recipes that can be found in their magical pages.
I guess if I were to sum it up, I love the possibility that prospective recipes bring. The idea that food can take you to exotic places with one sweet or savory bite make me ooze excitement and potential. I imagine myself sitting outside a french bakery, mesmerized by the beautiful people passing by on vintage bikes, chatting casually and occasionally filling the air with the sounds of their laughter tinkling like small bells. I can just picture myself languidly lying on the softest of sands on a beach in Hawaii, sipping at my Mai Tai and taking in the therapeutic roaring of the waves and the singsong chirping of the fantastically colored birds.
And all of this brought on by a simple picture of a croissant or exotic drink that grace the thousands of recipes I have stored in that old wooden bookcase. I have a glorified idea that food has the power to bring people together and unite them under a common love and I have always felt that cooking or baking with someone is such an intimate experience.
The potential and promise with each beautifully taken picture is almost like a drug to me, bringing me comfort and allowing me to curl up quietly with some warm cocoa, completely at peace with the world as I try to decide what my next meal will be.
That being said, while I hardly ever make more than a couple of recipes within a magazine issue, they fill my thoughts with ideas that I file away in my mind and eventually put into practice.
The same goes for this delicious and light Orecchiette with Parmesan and Chicken Sausage, which was roughly imagined up from a recipe on the cover of Cooking Light. And by that I mean that I thought the pasta shapes were adorable and that anything with some sort of sausage had to, by law, taste marvelous. It was go time! And let me tell you, this recipe is a keeper! It’s bursting with flavor and was ready in under 30 minutes, not to mention it only required one pot. Since moving in to my apartment with a bunch of my main girlfriends, I feel like I’m in a constant state of dish washing, so that fact makes my world go round. So let’s see: Easy? Check. Delicious? Check. Under 400 calories per serving?!?! Let’s party!!
This dish tastes anything but light and just oozes garlicky and cheesy goodness. I love the crunch and texture that the broccolini adds, along with the beautiful green color that makes the dish look so light and vibrant.
And don’t even get me started on the sausage. My viking genes (Go Norway!) require that I get in my meaty protein fix and I was pleasantly surprised by how well the chicken sausage satisfied my cravings. I used the garlic basil edition from Trader Joe’s and found that just two delectable and savory pieces were plenty for the entire dish and that they added the perfect amount of extra flavor to balance the dish.
Also, if you don’t have garlic salt in your life yet, you’re probably miserable. Even if you don’t know it yet. Garlic salt is my remedy for everything bad in the world and is the glue that holds Kyle and my relationship together. We put it on everything savory and it makes and recipe 10 times better!
Let me know how it goes for you!