On cranial offspring.... oh and olives

So... a recipe...

One note before I start, the pasta needed about another 30-60 seconds of cook time. Being the first time I had made fresh whole wheat pasta, it didn't finish cooking like a white flour pasta would after taking it out of the water, so it was ever so slightly undercooked. (So that's bring water to a boil after adding fresh pasta and cook for about 3 mins instead of 2). Other than that, I would eat it everyday. Yes, all 3 meals...

There is no sauce here per se, although I imagine that a good, savory tomato or a "cream" sauce would work just fine. This particular iteration only has a light olive oil glaze on it, so you could, if you like extra OO on your pasta (I do, she doesn't), you could also add a bit more oil at the end, just drizzle over the top. Anywho..

1 bag Organic peas
1 package Tofurky Italian Sausages, cut into 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices
a handful of olives, stuffed or not, the pictures olives happened to be super collossal pimento stuffed spanish olives, probably about 1/2 a cup roughly sliced
4 TBS Organic EV olive oil

I should mention this is a two pan recipe for us, as I do not like olives at all. I've tried them, with my wife as a witness, they are just too much for me. If you like olives, you can certainly do all this in one pan, and save some washing later.

In a small saucepan (or after you cook the peas below if you use the same pot), add a tablespoon of olive oil and over med high heat, saute the olives until they start to get browned, this can take up to 10 minutes depending on your pans and stove, so don't rush. If you heat them too fast, the oil inside can turn on you and make them more bitter than they already are.

In a large saucepan, start out by sauteing the peas (they can be frozen) in a tablespoon or two of olive oil over med high heat. Cook for about 5 minutes, until all the peas are thawed, and they start to darken. Remove from the pan and return the pan to the heat. You know they are done when they shrivel up a little after you take them off the heat.

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and add the sausage slices. Saute these until they get color. We have Le Creuset pans, so some of the bits in the sausage stick a little, if you use cast iron or enamel and they stick, it's ok, just stir gently constantly to keep them from burning on. After they cook for about 5 minutes, add 3 tablespoons of water or no/low salt veggie stock (you do use homemade right?) to deglaze the pan (scrape with a spoon or spatula that's safe for your pan; presumably you were already using one to stir anyway). Let this cook until the water is gone, but the sausage still looks moist, then add the peas back in and stir for a minute or two to combine. If you like the olives, then add them in with the peas or add them on top. Once combined, spoon over your cooked pasta, rice or whatever you like.

You'll note a complete lack of additional spices here. With the sausage being so heavily spiced, I didn't see any need to add more to the party. Part of the reason I like to add more oil to them is to bring out the flavors that are oil soluable and use that to coat and season the peas. So far it seems to work pretty well. Adding the peas back in when there is still a tiny amount of water left also aids in that process.

You can also top this with Vegan parm, tomato sauce, a drizzle of olive oil, or a nice lightly flavored cream sauce.

I should also note that we really do try to use all organic ingredients whenever we can. In the recipes I have given below, with a few rare exceptions, all that is organic. From now on, when I post up a recipe I will include the organic notation. This is by no means trying to dictate using organic ingredients, but perhaps it will tip you on foods that are available organically, and if you can't readily find it, maybe you'll get up the nerve to ask where we get it from!