Montgomery County Kitchen: Cajun Pasta From Jeff

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX — Calling all home cooks in Montgomery County!

There's nothing better than a home-cooked meal, and Patch wants to highlight the best recipes from Montgomery County residents. This will be a new weekly post featuring a recipe from one of our neighbors.

To be featured, please send your recipe to jeffrey.perkins@patch.com. Don't hold back. We want photos and all your tips and tricks for your recipes. We want to know the backstory. Why is this recipe special to you? When did you start making it?

We'll take just about anything: breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts, appetizers, party food, holiday recipes.

I can't wait to see what Montgomery County has to offer in the kitchen. I'll get it started with a recipe of my own.

My wife and I love cooking together, and one of our favorite types of cuisine is Cajun food. This is one of the first recipes that we tried when we started dating, and it's stayed in our rotation since with several tweaks along the way.

It's a simple Cajun pasta, but it's versatile and packed with flavor. The recipe calls for andouille sausage, but chicken and even shrimp would substitute seamlessly as well. My wife and I do most of our cooking by smell and taste, adjusting as needed, so we don't do exact measures on many ingredients, especially in this recipe. I have approximated them here as best I can.

For the pasta, most short varieties will work, especially penne and rotini. We've settled on veggie rotini because the sauce really sticks in the crevices of the spiral shape. Regular, wheat or veggie pastas all work well in the dish, so choose your favorite.

Any milk will work for the sauce, but we typically use 2 percent because it's reduced fat but still has a creamy element that skim milk lacks. Also, be patient when reducing the sauce and don't give in to the temptation of turning it up to medium heat. Keep an eye on it. It still tastes good when the sauce curdles slightly, but it looks much better on the plate when it doesn't.

Lastly, any Cajun seasoning will do, but we are partial to the variety you can get from the bulk spice area at most H-E-Bs. If you need or want to make some yourself, a simple mixture of salt, oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper and black pepper will work perfectly. The recipe has a nice kick as is, but if you want more, by all means add more seasoning.

For my fellow winos, I find that this pasta dish pairs extremely well with dry rosés and whites. It's a crisp finish and tempers the spice slightly between bites.

Cajun pasta

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• drizzle of olive oil
• 1 link andouille sausage, sliced into medallions
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup milk
• 8 ounces cooked pasta
• 1 Roma tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 2 scallions, diced

Method

1. Cook pasta to al dente according to package directions, drain and set aside.
2. Drizzle olive oil in enamel Dutch oven or large non stick pot and heat on medium-high (slightly over medium for a Dutch oven). When oil is shimmery, add andouille sausage and cook both sides until it starts to crisp up.
3. Add bell pepper and Cajun seasoning. Stir well and sauté until bell pepper is soft. Reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Add garlic and stir well for a minute, allowing the garlic to incorporate but not burn.
5. Stir in milk and let simmer and thicken, stirring occasionally.
6. Fold in pasta, Roma tomato and parmesan cheese.
7. Serve in bowls and top with scallions and additional parmesan to taste.