I have really been on a sun dried tomato kick for the last few weeks, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I was craving them at work. I had to get some supplies for this upcoming weekend, so I headed to (sadly) the Giant after work. Shockingly, this bastion of gourmet delights didn’t sell goat cheese or won ton wrappers (my intent was to try a dumpling with the cheese, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and basil), forcing me to improvise. What I ended up with looked so much like a bolognese sauce, I had to coin the dish Faux-lognese!
The problem with grocery shopping on an empty stomach is that you end up with a shopping cart worth of items…in a hand basket. I knew I had fresh basil and green onions from my hippie box, so I started fashioning the idea of a creamy sun dried tomato sauce in my head.
2-3 ounces of sun dried tomatoes, julienned
2 cloves minced garlic (my dirty little secret: I sometimes buy bottled minced garlic as a time saver)
2 stalks of green onions, diced
4 ounces of shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2/3 cup of light cream
3 links of chorizo, removed from their casing
Fresh basil, coarsely chopped
8 ounces pasta, cooked and drained.
Grated parmesan cheese (optional)
As usual, start to boil the water for the pasta, salt it when it comes to a boil and then pour in the pasta. Drain when the pasta is al dente. While the pasta is cooking, squeeze out the chorizo from its casing and into a saucepan over medium high heat. With a spatula, ground up the chorizo and saute it until cooked throughout. Remove the finished chorizo from the saucepan and set it aside. Reduce the heat only slightly. Toss the green onions, garlic, sun dried tomatoes (taking care to keep as much of its olive oil out of the sauce), basil and mushrooms into the pan. Once the onions turn slightly soft, reduce the heat to medium low and add the cream. Stir until the mixture starts to thicken and then add the chorizo. Give the mixture one more stir to coat the sausage and serve atop the pasta of your choice (did I also mention I’m on an orzo kick…so no surprise which pasta I chose). Feel free to add some grated parmesan (again, no shock that I used another opportunity to add cheese to a dish).
Just as a side note, this dish only took me a total of 25 minutes to make…so it could easily go in my “Fast Food” series.
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Adventures in Shaw 
Looks awesome! I have never been crazy about sun dried tomatoes on pasta because though I like the flavor, they can be too tangy (for my taste). I wonder if the cream cuts that… will have to give this a try.
p.s. Sorry to be a drive-by this week. Been barely keeping up with work and other stuff. Blog reading (and writing) has been sacrificed temporarily.
This pasta sounds so tasty!!
I am so drooling right now.
I have actually been fancying making my own little won-tons as well. I’m absolutely besotted with the little wrappers… so much so that I just want to throw a won-ton party, heh.
Liz – How ironic (and I shall refrain from singing Alanis at a very loud and very off key tone)! I was just on your site reading about Horatio’s adventures! I still plan on doing the dumplings, but it just requires a trip to Whole Foods…or the new Harris Teeter! Why am I this excited about grocery stores?
Kevin – It is soooo very good! I know you like sun dried tomatoes, so you must give this a try! I finished it off tonight!
Jamie – The cream does cut the tanginess of the tomatoes, so you should definitely give this a whirl!
New grocery stores are fabulous, and I do love Whole Foods. I’ll have to see if this new Harris Teeter is any good. I used to shop there when I lived in North Carolina, and it wasn’t anything special. Maybe it’s different here?