Sausage and Apple Pasta Salad

I decided to take a quick break from the flower parade to talk about cooking once again. Given that it's Summer, it's pasta salad time chez Moore. Both Matt and I appreciate its many qualities (quick, minimal heat output, good to take as a lunch).

I recently read an article on slate about the (apparently) much-maligned pasta salad. (And I would malign it too, if it were covered in mayonnaise (I call that macaroni salad, as though there's a difference). I disagree with the author, however, when she contends that a vinagrette is always the wrong sort of dressing for a pasta salad. On the other hand, I'm willing to consider her advice that generally fewer ingredients are better and that vegetables should be roasted or otherwise treated before finding their way into the pasta salad.

That said, this particular pasta salad includes raw bell pepper, (and five total non pasta/dressing ingredients). We were inspired to experiment by the presence of sweet apple and maple syrup chicken sausage in the sausage case (we usually buy the roasted garlic ones). Note that these are the big hot dog sized sausages, which I don't typically associate with breakfast, so we decided to try a variation on our standard pasta salad using these sausages.

Sausage and Apple Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 box multicolored rotini

1 pkg (four sausages) apple and maple syrup chicken sausage

1/2 bag frozen corn

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 Granny Smith apple, chopped

4 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese, cubed

olive oil

1 lemon

salt, pepper, herbs

Directions:

Cook rotini as directed on package.  Corn may be added along with the rotini.  

Meanwhile, grill or otherwise cook the sausages.  Slice into 1/4 inch thick circular pieces.

Drain rotini-corn mixture and rinse with cool water.

In a large bowl, assemble pasta, sausage, peppers, apples, and cheese.  In a small dish, make dressing with juice of one lemon, olive oil (about the same amount), salt, pepper and herbs to taste (I used my Penzey's Country French Vinagrette mix which has little of everything in it).  Coat pasta/veggie/meat/cheese mixture.  Serve or cover and refrigerate.

Review:

I think it's generally good but I think I would prefer this same salad with a plainer type of sausage.  This sausage is a little too sweet for me.  Matt likes it the way it is.

Heliopsis

I'm a big fan of the heliopsis. I find them quite cheerful (as I am apt to find any yellow flower) and I appreciate that they don't smell awful the way daisies do despite their generally daisy-like appearance. These heliopsis are planted in the front yard in a huge mass with the echinacea. The bees and butterflies seem generally to like them. They are, in my limited experience, quite low maintenance.

Roses

Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out a proper way to maintain my blogging schedule in addition to everything else. I'm still hopeful that I can find a solution.


Today, I have roses to present. On the left, we have a lovely bud and below an open flower. Both pictures were taken on a rainy morning almost two weeks ago. The variety is Tahitian Sunset, and it's really quite lovely. The bush is currently huge, leafy and covered in buds to bloom again (the first four blooms have already passed). I am experiencing a bit of a beetle problem, so I broke down and sprayed it with some pesticide-style stuff.

Peonies

First and foremost, I'd like to apologize about the length of time since my last post. My readers (Hi Mom!) certainly know that it's been a hectic month, with my thesis proposal, Keisha's graduation, the cold Keisha gave me and our new addition to the family, a beautiful Newfoundland puppy named Iorek after the armored bear in Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (and the rest of the trilogy).

Last weekend we had a rather unpleasant heat wave, but the upside is that we have been jolted into summer, so I begin a series of posts about my summer flowers. We begin with the peonies, which are one of the very few flowers that neither Gue nor I planted at our house. Unlike all of the flowers I have featured so far, these lie in the bed on the East side of the house. They're contained by those metal cage things but clearly far exceed the size of them and are flopping all about the place (and over the irises, which I believe Gue planted). I may need to get brave and split these whenever that would be appropriate.

Here's the accompanying detail shot of the peonies. These weren't a flower I had a previously formed opinion on, but I have to say that they have won me over; it's largely the scent, I think, although it may be how little work I've done for them to be this way. I desperately need to weed their bed though (ugh).

Crabapple and rhododendron

Unfortunately for me, the crabapple tree was at peak last weekend while I was in Claremont for my five year reunion. Luckily for you, however, my wonderful husband obliged me by taking pictures. I tried taking a few more yesterday, but they were so obviously inferior to the ones he took (in the beauty of the tree, hopefully they were comparable in quality of photography) that I deleted them from the computer. As you can see in both the pictures of the whole tree and the details, the flowers on this beauty are fuschia: gorgeous, bold and striking. By now, about a third are on the ground and the remaining blossoms have started to fade to a nondescript pink. Nothing lasts, but I do know what I'm looking forward to next year.



The rhododendron had just started to bud before I left for California, but when I came back I was greeted by the welcome sight of its delicate pink blossoms. We bought and planted this rhododendron last July, so I didn't know exactly what color it would be. I find it to be quite lovely (the blossoms remind me somewhat of those of the pink cherry tree we planted). Unfortunately, the leaves are a bit brown at the edges (and have been since the end of winter...or more likely since sometime during the winter). I'm not quite sure how to rectify this particular situation.

Various dinners from a while ago

Pictured on the left (on the fine china!), we have lemon-rosemary chicken (grilled) with roasted potatoes and balsalmic asparagus.  This meal took place almost a month ago and I've been too busy to write it up.  The chicken recipe is from the (small) Williams-Sonoma Grilling book (which is highly recommended by Matt & I--we haven't had a single bad thing from it).  The chicken had great flavor and the marinade was fairly easy.  If you're interested in the recipe, I'd be happy to pass it on.  The potatoes are quartered red potatoes, roasted in olive oil with garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary.  The asparagus is cooked the way I cook asparagus (sautéed, with balsalmic vinegar drizzled over it at the last second of cooking.

Another entrée from Grilling is pictured here on the right.  This shrimp is grilled on skewers (see below) alternating with big chunks of blanched garlic (the recipe calls for cloves of regular garlic, we used thirds/quarters of elephant garlic cloves) and basted with a spicy tomato sauce.  It's delicious and fun.  As pictured, we served it over a wild rice blend and with asparagus (I cooked it the same way described above--I like it that way).  As with the chicken, I'm happy to pass on the recipe if you actually want it.

Tulips, a bit late

I've had these pictures for a couple of weeks now.  I'm sorry I haven't posted.  I have been busy busy busy, but it's been a good sort of busy (thesis proposal out the door--my oral exam is scheduled for May 14th!)

The tulips pictured above are actually completely past now (but I have others that are still going strong and a whole new set that is just beginning to bud--so more to follow hopefully).  I am a particular fan of gently multicolored tulips and these completely fit the bill.  (I used to hate tulips since I associated them with regimented rows of bright red and bright yellow.)

These pink and pale yellow tulips to the left are among my favorite groupings.  (There were also two white ones in this group, but they had not yet bloomed as of this picture).  These tulips, like the first set, are in the beds in front of the house, but unlike the first are still hanging on for a little longer.

Down by the evergreens, the tulips are not yet passed but the daffodils shown in some of the pictures are. Below is my favorite tulip picture. It makes a great background for my computer desktop. 

The tulip groups in the evergreen bed are predominantly pink and pale yellow, although I saw one yesterday that I would describe as "orange sorbet".  In any event, they're lovely.  With regards to the daffodils pictured below, I love seeing the dew glint on the grass in the background.

 

Coming soon: flowering crabapple and the now blooming rhododendron!