Date Night Italian Feast

Youngest daughter here, and let me tell you about how awesome my date night Italian feast went. My husband grasped my hand, looked me deep in the eye, and said, "Is there something I'm missing or forgetting? You're being so romantic." Yeah, success.

Yes, date night means light drinking to the tune of the baby monitor at our house.

What's my recipe for a great date night? Two very simple recipes taken and tweaked out of my favorite cook book, Better Homes and Gardens: New Cookbook, Prizewinning Recipes. I cooked "White Bean and Sausage Rigatoni" and used their directions for fresh zucchini.

I acquired the food for this from a few places, but you could easily get a comparable list all from just Walmart or any other standard grocery. I started at Trader Joe's because I wanted their delicious parmesan reggiano.

Shredded using my Cuisnart Food Processer

That trip was not my last because Trader Joe's was missing two key ingredients (Italian tomatoes and turkey sausage), hence the split between stores. Here's how my shopping split up:

Costco
Franconia Beer (a local brewery)

Trader Joe's
Trader Joe's Block Red Shiraz
Parmesan reggiano block of cheese
Rigatoni
1 can cannellini beans
Sweet Italian pork sausage
Ciabatta bread
Three-pack of zucchini squash

Walmart
1 Bag Marketside Caesar Salad Kit
1 can Italian-style tomatoes
Sweet Italian Turkey sausage
Dried crushed basil (I had this at home, but if I was out, I would have purchased it at Walmart.)

To start, we had the Marketside Caesar Salad Kit, which is assembled by opening, dumping, and tossing.

To accompany, we had the ciabatta bread. I dunked mine in a little olive oil and basalmic vinaigrette. My husband went with Country Crock. It's really a taste thing.

For the main dish of white bean and sausage rigatoni, I made a slight tweak to the recipe because I ended up acquiring both the type of sausage called for and a back-up flavor. I will note it in the recipe that follows the photo. I mixed both types of sausage because I wanted left overs of both types for an upcoming dinner party, and because I was skeptical of the flavor of the turkey sausage, as it was my first time to cook with it. As it turns out, either would have been fine alone because the two types were pretty indistinguishable. Turkey is lower fat and pork is cheaper. Pick your battles!

Ingredients
2 cups dried rigatoni (8 ounces or half the package, eyeballed)
1 15-ounce can of cannellini beans
1 14.5-ounce can of Italian-style diced tomatoes
8 ounces (1/2 package) sweet Italian turkey sausage (changed to be 4 ounces turkey and 4 ounces pork, not necessary... pick one)
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 cup shredded Asiago or Parmesan cheese (1 ounce)

Steps
1. Cook sausage and chop into bite size pieces. I put this in because I hate it when recipes assume you've already cooked and chopped your meat. This takes about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring your water up to boil. This time is also always left out of the recipe.
3. Open your two cans. Drain and rinse the beans. Leave the tomatoes be.
3. About the time the sausage is done, you'll be able to put the pasta in the boiling water. It takes 12 minutes if you use Trader Joe's variety. When it is done, drain it and place in your serving dish.
4. While your pasta is boiling, heat the tomatoes with the dried basil (if using) and sausage in a saucepan.
5. Shred a chunk of your big block of parmesan cheese in the food process. Skip this if you buy it pre-shredded or grated.
6. Add beans and fresh basil (if using) to sauce. Heat through.
7. Toss sauce with pasta and serve sprinkled with cheese to taste.

Nutrition Facts (for Turkey Sausage Only)
Per 2 cups: 432 cal, 10 g. total fat (3 g sat. fat), 46 mg chol., 961 mg sodium, 65 g carbo., 7 g fiber, 25 g pro.
Daily values: 4% vit. A, 3% vit C., 11% calcium, 23% iron

For my side dish of vegetables, I decided on zucchini. I prepared them the plain way that Better Homes and Gardens suggested, but they were a little bitter without seasoning, so I tweaked them to include garlic salt and olive oil on their way to the table. The tweaked recipe follows the photo.

Ingredients
3 zucchini squash
Pinch of salt
Pinch of garlic salt
Drizzle of olive oil

Steps
1. Boil salted a few inches of water in the sauce pan.
2. Cut off ends of zucchinis. Slice zucchinis into 1/4 width slices.
3. Cook zucchini in salted water for 4-5 minutes.
4. Drain zucchini and toss in a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of garlic salt to taste.

When it was all said and done, the meal was filling, wholesome, and delicious. I got the go ahead to make it again. I was surprised that the sauce was so hearty and flavorful considering how few ingredients it included, but it was great. The recipe really "stretches flavorful sausage with white beans" as the cookbook indicated. It was a ton of food, and it yielded a good deal of left-overs, even in our home of hearty eaters. I personally was skeptical of the cannellini beans, but they took on the flavor of the tomatoes and had a similar texture to the meat; it was a delightful addition of fiber and frugal protein. 

When it was all said and done, I wrapped up date night by putting away the laundry and my husband did the dishes. That's our love language, and I wouldn't have it any other way.