Imbolc Sausage Pasta with White Sauce and Spinach

Gather ingredients.

Crush garlic into milk and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium.

Add cornstarch slurry until medium-thick, then add cheese. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, add sausage, herbs, and onion to a skillet.

Cook through.

Reduce heat and add spinach.

Stir until wilted. Remove from heat.

Mix cooked pasta with sauce.

Split pasta-sauce mixture between bowls.

Top with sausage-spinach mixture and serve.

Around here, Imbolc meals are about foods that store well so they’ll last through the darkest, coldest days. This year, I made this big bowl of comfort food. Sausage, pasta, and parmesan all store well, and eating it will prepare you for a winter's nap in the recliner.

If you don't like (or can't have) spicy, use mild sausage and cut the hot pepper flakes. Timing is important for this one (who wants skin on the sauce or clumpy pasta?), so be sure to start your pasta first as shells and penne are thick.

Sausage Pasta with White Sauce and Spinach
(serves two)

• 6 oz shell or penne pasta

• 1 C 2% milk

• cornstarch slurry (1 t cornstarch mixed with 1 T water)

• 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

• 1/2 lb ground hot Italian sausage (or 2 links sliced open and emptied)

• 1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced

• 1 T olive oil

• 1/2 t basil

• 1/8 t hot pepper flakes

• 1/4 t fennel seeds

• 1/4 t garlic powder

• 1/4 t paprika

• salt & pepper to taste

  (all herbs & spice amounts are approximate—season to your own preference)

1. Put pasta on to boil. Drain when cooked through.

2. Sauté onions in oil. Add crumbled sausage and seasonings (basil, hot pepper, fennel, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper) and cook through. Drain grease if necessary.

3. Crush garlic into milk and bring just to a boil (do not allow to boil, just bring it to that heat). Reduce heat to medium. Add cornstarch slurry a little at a time until sauce has thickened but is still runny. Add parmesan and stir until melted (it takes a while). The cheese will further thicken the sauce.

4. Mix all together and serve.

5. Nap.