Frank Davis New - Full Recipe

	There's not an Italian nor a Sicilian anywhere who doesn't know how tantalizingly good pasta is when sautéed and simmered with vegetables, the end result always being delicately-subtle, delicious, unique, and fresh-tasting. "Tutto giardino" literally means "the whole garden," and that's what you get with this recipe. Of course, the sausage and Parmesan cheese are thrown in as N'Awlins lagniappe
Ingredients:
1 lb. rotini pasta (regular or whole wheat) + 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + 3 Tbsp. butter 1 lb. smoked sausage (half finely diced/half julienned) 1 oz. fillet of anchovies, chopped 1/3 cup coarsely diced onions 4 cloves thinly sliced garlic 1/4 cup julienned sundried tomatoes 1/4 cup diced zucchini 1/4 cup diced yellow squash 1/2 cup torn spinach leaves 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper 1/4 cup diced mushrooms 1/4 cup broccoli florets 1/4 cup cauliflower florets 1/4 cup snowpeas 1/4 cup julienned carrots 1/2 cup artichoke hearts, marinated, drained and sliced 1/2 cup diced eggplant (lightly salted) 1/3 cup fresh basil or 1/2 tsp. dried basil leaves 2 tsp. Frank Davis Sicilian Seasoning 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 1/2 cup rich chicken stock (as needed) 2 Tbsp. sliced black olives 1 cup imported Parmesan cheese, grated 1/2 stick softened butter 1 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper 1/4 cup finely minced parsley 1/2 cup green onions, thinly sliced
Instructions:
First, boil your pasta until it becomes al dente. Then rinse it well under cold running water, drain it thoroughly, and toss it with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil to keep it from sticking together. Next, take a heavy, deep-sided 12-inch skillet, heat the quarter cup of olive oil plus the three tablespoons of butter, and begin frying down the sausage. When it thoroughly browns, remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon and place it on several layers of paper towels to drain. Then in the same pot you browned the sausage, sauté the anchovies, the onions, and the garlic until the mixture totally wilts (just be careful you don't burn the garlic!). Then immediately begin adding the remaining 13 vegetables, one at a time. As you drop them into the pan, toss and stir them to be sure they are thoroughly coated with the olive oil and rendered sausage drippings. When all the produce is in the mix, stir in the fresh basil, the Sicilian seasoning, and the crushed red pepper and cook everything together for about 3 to 4 minutes (tossing all the while) until the vegetables are hot and coated with the flavored olive oil. Then tightly cover the skillet, reduce the fire to low, and simmer the medley until the veggies become tender-crisp (which should take you about 10 minutes, adding small amounts of the chicken broth a little at a time if needed). At this point, drop the black olives and about half of the Parmesan cheese to the skillet and toss the mixture again. Then cover the pot for exactly 1 minute to "sweat" the cheese into the vegetables. All that's left now is to reheat the pasta (briefly in the microwave works well) and toss it with the half stick of softened butter. Then pour the vegetables over the pasta in a hot bowl, sprinkle on the remaining Parmesan cheese, and fold everything together uniformly. I suggest you serve the pasta piping hot, as soon as it's prepared, liberally sprinkled with extra Parmesan and garnished with a hint of black pepper, a sprinkling of parsley, and a topping of green onions. Oh--and a generous stack of garlic bread sticks on the side wouldn't hurt!
Chef's Notes:
Even if you hate anchovies, don't leave them out of this recipe. I promise you won't taste them in the finished dish, and they alone are what cause the accentuation of the vegetable flavors.
If you'd prefer to make the dish totally vegetarian, just eliminate the sausage and the chicken broth. It's that simple. Actually, any number of ingredients could be eliminated from this recipe and it would still come out primo!
It's okay to peek into the simmering pot every few minutes and stir the mixture-this is also the time when you add stock if necessary. Of course, note here that you want only enough moisture on the vegetables to allow them to become tender-if excess liquid builds up in the bottom of the skillet, take off the top and allow it to evaporate!
It is perfectly acceptable to pre-cook the vegetable portion of this dish ahead of time and reheat it later when you put the recipe together. To reheat the veggies, just drop them into a Teflon skillet, cover them, and sauté in their own moisture for about 5 minutes.
An alternate way to serve this dish is in individual servings. Simply take two 12-inch skillets, combine helpings of the pasta and the vegetable mixture in each skillet, heat them as individual servings, and serve them as you will.
The skin can be left on the eggplant when you dice it. But to remove some of the so-called "bite," be sure to sprinkle the diced pieces lightly with salt before you cook it.
To tenderize the sundried tomatoes, you can soak them for a few minutes in about a half-cup of warm water. Of course, if you prefer them somewhat chewy, all that's really necessary is to sauté them in the hot olive oil.
If you can't find my Sicilian seasoning where you shop, you can order it directly from the link on this website.