Pasta with Turkish Sausage (Sucuklu Makarna)

My comfort food cravings usually appear when my fridge is almost empty and need to use up the food I have on hand. Yesterday after running around all day I started thinking about what to have for our dinner. Eating out was out of the question as I am sick and tired of it lately. When I walked in the kitchen, both the long and short pasta in the clear, glass containers were staring at me from the other side of the counter. Then I recalled seeing Turkish sausage in my freezer earlier in the morning and the milk in the fridge that needed to be used in a couple days. Albeit, it was difficult to decide whether I should cook long or short pasta, I went with the short penne pasta. In my head, I already had created the taste I wanted to acquire for the pasta and it worked perfectly. It was comforting and filling and scrumptious. A bowl of salad and a side of plain yogurt accompanied it very well.

For the Sauce:

1 ½ cups Turkish sausage (cubed)
1 cup milk
4 small tomatoes
1 clove of garlic (chopped finely)
½ of medium onion (chopped finely)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp red pepper paste
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt


For Boiling the Pasta:

1 box Penne Rigate pasta (the pasta that is shaped like a cylinder and cut diagonally)
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt
Water

In a small pot, boil water for the tomatoes. Place tomatoes and boil for 2 minutes. Turn the heat off. Keep tomatoes in the hot water for 3-4 minutes with lid closed until the tomatoes are soft. Cool and skin the tomatoes. With a heavy fork, roughly smash the tomatoes. The tomato pieces will stay in large chunks. Set aside. If raw tomatoes are used for the sauce, the sauce cooking time will be longer.

In a large pot, boil water. Add pasta to boiling water and follow cooking directions. Usually this kind of pasta requires about 12-13 minutes. Add a little of oil and a pinch of salt so that the pasta does not stick together while cooking. Drain the pasta and set aside.

Heat olive oil on medium heat, in a pot. Add sausage and sauté for 1 minute. Add garlic and onions and sauté for about 2 minutes or until transparent. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, red pepper paste, milk, salt and black pepper. Stir the ingredients for a minute and close lid. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Add the drained pasta over the sauce and stir. Keep on heat for two minutes and serve hot. If preferred, a favorite cheese can be sprinkled on the pasta. Garnish with pickles.

Baked Pasta (Fırında Peynirli Makarna)

Here is a comforting recipe...

For the Sauce:

3 cups grated kaseri (similar to keskeval cheese)
2 ¼ cups milk
3 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried parsley
½ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp ground black pepper
½ tbsp salt


For Boiling the Pasta:

1 box Penne Rigate pasta (the pasta that is shaped like a cylinder and cut diagonally)
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt


In a large pot, boil water. Add pasta to boiling water and follow cooking directions. Usually this kind of pasta requires about 12-13 minutes. Add a little of oil and a pinch of salt so that the pasta does not stick together while cooking.

In the mean time, heat olive oil on medium heat, in a deep pan. Add garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add the milk, parsley, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes prior to adding flour. Stir the ingredients for a minute and add flour. Stir constantly so that the flour does not produce lumps. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens slightly.

Preheat oven to 350º F. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and spread in a Pyrex dish. Pour the white sauce over the pasta and mix. Sprinkle the cheese on top and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top of the pasta starts to take a brownish color.

Turkish Style Simple Spaghetti (Sade Uzun Makarna)

When you think of spaghetti, what usually comes to mind is probably the sauce. Well, this spaghetti recipe has very little sauce; just enough to give it a nice flavor. It has very few ingredients which by the way, does not hinder it from tasting delicious. Sometimes, I just like my food plain and this is one of those dishes that I do like plain. When I was little, my mother used to make it and loved it. I still do. A plate of salad would go perfectly with this. Enjoy.


½ package angel hair pasta or spaghetti
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 ½ tsp salt
Pinch of ground black pepper (optional)
¾ cup water


For Boiling Pasta:

½ tsp canola oil
½ tsp salt
½ full pot of water

To Cook the Pasta:

Boil water for cooking the pasta. Thin pasta only needs 3-4 minutes to cook. To be safe, follow directions on the package. As soon as the water boils, add salt and oil so that the pasta does not stick together. Remove from heat and drain.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. In a small bowl, dissolve the tomato paste in the water. Add the dissolved tomato paste to the pot with the olive oil. Let it simmer. Stir the sauce and add the pasta. Sprinkle the salt and mix well so that the tomato sauce is integrated with the pasta. Adjust the salt to your taste and if you wish, you may add some black pepper before serving.