Okay I was in the market the other day and the veggies all looked amazing and I thought I need to create a dish to cram them all in, and I thought pasta is a great medium for lots of stuff. So is pizza but I had tried a Brussel Sprout pizza before, was not my favorite. But there is a challenge to make one I like, but I digress. So, I roasted a bunch of veggies, sauté other in bacon, and brought everyone together in the pasta bowl, it was a big hit – Enjoy.
Ingredients
1 lb. of dried pasta, cooked as directed on package and reserve 1 ½ cups of the pasta water
1 lb. of Turkey bacon, chopped
1 ½ lb. of small burrata cheese, you want to put one on each dish
1 ½ cup of grated Asiago cheese
1 pint Brussels sprouts, cut in half
1-pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 fennel bulb, cut in half and the greens removed
2 red bell peppers
1/4 of a cup of sun-dried tomatoes, lose packed, like 2 strips, now the dried ones, not in oil
6 to 8 scallions, chopped
2 shallots, minced
2 eggs, whisked
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
hand-full of Italian Parsley, chopped
hand-full of Basil, chopped
red pepper flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Olive Oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl place Brussel sprouts, fennel, drizzle with olive oil, and season, toss to coat, and place on the baking sheet, on the other baking sheet place the tomatoes and whole peppers, place in the oven, and roast until charred, about 30 minutes or so. Remove and set aside. Once cool enough to handle, slice up the fennel, remove the charred skin, tops, and seeds from the peppers, and chop.
In a small bowl whisk, together with the eggs and the asiago cheese and set aside.
While the veggies are roasting start pasta and also place a large deep skillet over medium-high heat add the bacon and render until crisp, remove bacon and pour off all but 1 teaspoon of the fat. Now add the butter to the skillet, melt, then add the shallots and sauté until soft. Add the garlic, lemon juice and zest, red pepper flakes, the sundried tomatoes, seasoning, stir, add roasted cherry tomatoes, their juices, and the chopped bell peppers, toss. Now add pasta to skillet, ½ cup of the pasta water, and toss to coat and remove from heat. Now pour the egg cheese mixture and toss well to coat. If the sauce is a bit dry, add pasta water until the desired sauce is achieved.
Pour pasta mixture into a large bowl, followed by the Brussel sprouts, fennel, and fresh herbs, toss well.
Divide into a small bowl, sprinkle with more Asiago cheese, and top with a Burrata ball of cheese and serve. With an amazing loaf of bread and great wine.
Enjoy Cooking.