Recipe Favorites: Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Arugula

There's nothing I like more than Italian Sausage, unless it's arugula, so a dish that combines the two of them has to be a recipe favorite. And did I mention there's freshly grated Parmesan cheese? It just doesn't get much better than this. This is a photo from my old camera, but still I think this looks pretty tasty. I wish I had some right now.

There are a couple of things that are important if you're wanting to keep this South Beach Diet friendly. First, of course, you need to use Dreamfield's pasta or your favorite whole grain pasta. Second, use turkey Italian Sausage, which is much lower in fat than the Italian Sausage made with pork. If you follow those two suggestions this can be a great South Beach Diet dinner.

Spaghetti with Italian Sausage and Arugula
(Makes 2-3 servings, can be doubled or tripled)

2 links (about 1/2 pound) turkey Hot Italian Sausage
2 tsp. olive oil
4 oz. (1/4 box) Dreamfields spaghetti or whole wheat spaghetti
3 oz. arugula, preferably organic
1 tsp. finely minced garlic (or less, to taste)
1/2 cup pasta cooking water
2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
Parmesan cheese for serving, preferably freshly grated

In nonstick frying pan, heat olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of casing into pan and brown well, breaking up into small pieces as it cooks. While sausage is cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add spaghetti and cook 8-9 minutes, or until barely done and still *al dente* (with a little bite to it.)

Put arugula into large bowl, glass or crockery is best. When sausage is well browned, drain if there is very much fat, then pour sausage over arugula. Put frying pan back on stove, turn heat to very low, add garlic and saute about 30 seconds. Add 1/4 cup pasta cooking water and lemon juice and heat 2 minutes.

When spaghetti seems done, scoop out 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water in case you need it, then drain pasta well and put in bowl with arugula and sausage. Let sit 2 minutes to wilt arugula. Then add water/lemon juice/pasta water mixture from frying pan and toss all ingredients together. If it seems dry, add a bit more of the reserved pasta cooking water. Serve hot, with Parmesan cheese over top.

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South Beach Suggestions:

For phase two I'd eat a small serving of this combined with something like Absolutely Perfect Restaurant Quality Salad and a vegetable like Cauliflower with Garlic and Lemon. For phase three you could skip the extra vegetable and have more spaghetti.  (Edit June 2011 - I have recently learned that if Dreamfields pasta is cooked for a long time or reheated it increases the glycemic index, so this recipe is probably only for phase 3 if reheated.)

More Recipes with Turkey Italian Sausage:
Sausageand Basil Marinara Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes
Italian Sausage and Zucchini Soup
Italian Sausage and Bean Soup with Chard
Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce for Pasta
Baked Penne with Sausage
Italian Sausage with Tomato Sauce