When You Repeat a New Dish for the First Time

What with my seemingly infinite amount of homework and the fact that I haven't done a real shop since sometime in October, I haven't been able to try any new dishes lately. I did, however, have time to repeat a dish I tried for the first time in September; a dish which, luckily for your blog reading, I have not yet written about and which is particularly tasty. Just a hint of spicy; easy to make; pasta; cheese; how can you go wrong?


For my birthday this summer, my parents got me two cooking-related items: Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes and a recipe card collection from America's Test Kitchen. While Sky High is by far the more fanciful of the two, for a college student with my life, the recipe card collections has proved most useful. It's got a slew of simple meat, pasta, poultry, and fish recipes, all of which photograph beautifully and just call out to me to try them. Too bad cooking for one means more days of leftovers than opportunities to try something new! (This last dish lasted me four days, I think; all of them were delicious.)

The combination of a little bit of heat and the pasta in this dish make it particularly suited for this time of year -- at least, this time of year when November in Indiana realizes it should be crisp and chilly as opposed to 75 degrees and begging for me to walk around barefoot. So take my advice: find out where they keep the chorizo in your grocery store, find a good book to cozy up with while this simmers, and get cooking!


Spicy Pasta Bake with Chorizo
from America's Test Kitchen Fast & Fresh Recipe Card Collection: 64 Suppers, 30 Minutes or Less

1 lb chorizo sausage
1 onion, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 c low-sodium chicken broth
1 (10-oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes
1/2 c heavy cream
12 oz penne
salt and pepper
2 c shredded Jack cheese

Cook chorizo and onion in a large heatproof skillet over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring frequently, until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat the broiler.
Taking the pan off the heat, uncover the pan and stir in 1/2 c cheese. Top with the remaining cheese and broil until the cheese is melted and spotty brown, about 3 minutes.