Tasty Tuesdays

Adri here, time for another installment of whatever this really is. If you're here from Craftster, the blog post mentioned in my Crafster post is directly beneath this and thanks for reading. :D

I'm kinda a lazy kid, I like easy simple recipes. Like I heard Anthony Bourdain say once, If it's got more than four steps it's too complicated (unless it's French). Hence why I'm in love with absorption pastas. Plus, really really cuts down on dishes. I tried it first with my parents this summer. I kinda failed at it, too much water, cooked it too long, pork was too bland, etc. Then Jay made it a few weeks later, with some substitutions from the original plan I'd worked off of and it was great. Perfect even. So from there I decided to give it another shot. This time, it worked. I even made my own sauce, kinda.

Adri's version of an absorption pasta:
*1/2 a box of fancy little tomatoes (those in between plum and cherry in size?) though any size tomato would do. About equal to one big beefsteak one.
*1 or 2 italian sausages
*1/4 an onion
*2 cloves garlic, crushed
*2 cups chicken broth
*2ish cups of pasta
*basil and other spices to taste
*water or jar of sauce to cover

start by throwing in the sausage all pulled apart into bite size pieces (remove casing by cutting down the length and peeling it away, then pull off pieces), garlic, basil and spices until the sausage is browned a little.

Cut up the tomatoes in chunks removing seeds and skins. There are two ways to remove the skin of a tomato, both start with scoring the bottom so there's a little X then either putting them in boiling water until it peels back a bit or sticking them in the freezer until the same happens. Honestly, as they don't bother me I don't really worry about this bit. Let the tomatoes cook until you can push on them with a spatula and they break apart.

When this happens pour the dry pasta on top and add the 3 cups of chicken broth. I use it because it makes the sauce thicken up later in a way that water doesn't seem too. If there's still more dry pasta above the broth then either add water or a jar of sauce until the pasta is JUST about covered. I added water last time because I couldn't open the jar and Jay doesn't live here... so, yeah, water works too. Last time I did this I added WAY too much and had to leave the pot boiling for WAY too long and our pasta got mushy.

Leave the lid off the pot while the pasta does it's thing, and slowly the water/broth/sauce will boil away and thicken on the pasta. You might end up cooking it a little while longer than you normally would, but as long as the pasta isn't mushy you should be fine.

Finally when the water's all but gone give it a good few stirs and let it it back to thicken the rest of the way up. Serve and you've got dinner.

serves 2, 'cause that's dinner and lunch tomorrow.

**edit** Chelsea has a photo tutorial over on her blog on boiling the tomatoes and getting off the skin, though she did it specifically to can her own salsa. Same principle here really. Thanks Chelsea!