Food For A Rainy Day... Tortiglioni With Andouille Sausage, Chicken & Creamy Tomato Sauce.

Creole Tortiglioni W/ Andouille & Chicken

While I am a Chef, it is unusual that you will hear me address myself as such and, with the exception of my blog you will not see "Chef" as a heading for any pictures or post coming from me or my work. I am proud of anyone that cooks and it can be a noble profession but somewhere along the way adjectives such as manager, hash slinger, and cook where supplanted by rock star, miracle worker, sex symbol and god like. I guess that's cool if that's what you want to do but for me I like to people watch and I love studying human behavior and what better way to find out why people are the way they are than studying why they eat what they eat? To me there is no better map to the soul of folks than to find out the fact that there are foods that cultures created out of  no more than necessity and availability.

Creole food is a style of cooking that originated in Louisiana with French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Native American, African and Southern influences in classical European style of cooking and while it's similar to Cajun the difference simply put is that Cajun would be rustic while Creole would be aristocratic. The recipe that I am adding is a touch of both.


On the menu today: Tortiglioni With Andouille Sausage, Chicken & Creamy Tomato Sauce.

We will need the following for this menu:

• Tortiglioni Pasta (1 box)
• Andouille Sausage (6-8 each)
• Cherry Tomatoes (1 carton)
• Garlic (2 Tbs)
• Chicken Breast (2-4 each)
• Heavy Cream (1 cup)
• Pasta Sauce (1 Jar)
• Fresh Basil (1/2 Bunch)
• Olive Oil (1 Tsp)
• Red Wine (1/4 Cup)

Start off by cutting the sausage on the bias and sautéing until done then set aside for later use. Next cut the breast into similar sized  pieces and sautéing with the oil and 1/2 tbs of minced garlic until done and reserve with the sausage. In a sauce pot heat up the pasta sauce and add the roughly chopped tomatoes, minced basil, red wine and allow to cook on low for 10 - 25 minutes. At the same time reduce the cup of heavy cream with the remainder of the garlic by 1/2 and then add to the pasta sauce. Finally, make the pasta in accordance with the instructions on the box. Add the chicken, sausage, creamy pasta sauce and Tortiglioni pasta to an oversized bowl and stir to incorporate. Enjoy with a glass of your favorite wine.