Winter Comfort Food: Roasted Brussel Sprout & Chicken Sausage Pasta

It's no secret that I love the resource that is Pintrest. I can scroll through the foodies' delight corner when I'm bored, tag the dishes that look tastiest, and make them later when I'm in need of a new meal to shake things up. The best part is, it's gotten me to try things that I never ate growing up.

Like brussell sprouts.

There are certain things I just never ate as a kid, given my mum's aversion to them. Beets, any kind of seafood (at least at home. Like father like daughter, I would always eat fish when we went out to restaurants!), and most definitely brussell sprouts. But I've heard such good things about them, usually along the vein of, "Oh, you just haven't had them MADE the right way! Have you tried roasting them?"

So when I found Cait's Plate's recipe for Roasted Brussell Sprouts & Chicken Sausage Pasta, I thought I would give it a try! Zac and I would be in big trouble if either of us gave up gluten - pasta is definitely our go-to answer for "what should we have for dinner?" That being said, we both have the bad habit of calling a bowl of pasta with obscene amounts of cheese/butter/garlic oil/etc "dinner." While it's certainly hella tasty, it doesn't rank too high on the "did I eat my veggies today?" scale.

I think my favorite part about this recipe is how few ingredients it requires. I'm not a big fan of giant shopping lists...inevitably, I will forget that one item. And then I kick myself all the way back to the grocery store...which is no fun on your bike in Chicago winters! Anywho, this dish requires 5 whole ingredients.



Roasted Brussell Sprouts and Chicken Sausage Pasta
Prep/Cook Time: About 30-45 minutes
Servings:4

Ingredients: - bag o' frozen brussell sprouts
- 1 box of favorite type of pasta. (Personally, I recommend any pasta of the curly variety, ala rotini. But then, I like curly pasta...)
-4 Italian style chicken sausages. (Dudes, there are some amazing chicken sausage combinations out there. I used one that involved roasted garlic and gruyere cheese. SO TASTY!)
-olive oil
-salt and pepper

Now that's a grocery list even *I* can't mess up!

Once you've foraged for you ingredients, the actual cooking process is pretty simple! I followed Cait's Plate's recipe almost to the letter and it came out pretty damn tasty.


Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425 F.
• Place brussel sprouts in a microwave safe dish with 1-2 tbsp. water.  Microwave on high for 3 minutes or until just softened.  Slice brussel sprouts in half and place on a pan lined with tinfoil. (Lindsay's note: I didn't do this. Instead, I let the suckers thaw on the countertop, because this was a day where I had the forethought to do so. That usually doesn't happen!)
• Drizzle olive oil and salt over the brussel sprouts, tossing to make sure they’re fully coated.
• Place brussel sprouts in the oven and allow to roast until just browned and crispy (about 20-30 minutes depending on your oven).
• Meanwhile, cook pasta according to box instructions.
• Slice the chicken sausage and place into a non-stick pan coated with a bit of olive oil.  Toss the chicken sausage in the pan until slightly browned on both sides.  Remove from heat.
• Add cooked, drained pasta into a large serving dish.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper then toss in heated chicken sausage and roasted brussel sprouts.  Toss to combine.

Now...I say "almost to the letter" because I missed one minor detail. When I sliced up my brussell sprouts and put them on the baking sheet, here's what it looked like:

If you read the recipe carefully, unlike me, you'll be able to spot what's wrong. There is no tin foil lining the pan. I would HIGHLY recommend making sure you do the step! My sprouts got a little...extra toasty and didn't necessarily want to part ways from the pan. oops!

That being said, we still had an uber tasty meal once all was said and done:

And for once, our pasta also included veggies. A win win situation all around!

Happy eatin'!