Fusilli Lunghi topped with Fennel Sausage and Mortadella Vodka sauce and Shaved Smoked Caciocavallo

Ah, the joys of getting old and boring.  The first Sunday of SXSW  we headed out for an evening of fun and music, or so we thought.  Upon getting to the venue, the line was extremely long and we just weren't down for mingling and waiting in line with that many local and import hipsters on our Sunday evening.  Since Alex had several SXSW shows the upcoming week, we decided it would be a good idea to relax at home with a good meal.  On our way home we stopped by Mandola's Italian Market.  In the true tradition of Dinner Nightmares, he was to choose several random ingredients for the creation of a meal.  The ingredients are so fresh and fabulous at Mandola's that it wasn't a hard task!

Canned and fresh tomatoes, pistachio mortadella, fennel sausage, smoked caciocavallo cheese, fusilli lunghi pasta, salt packed capers, marinated sweet red peppers and baguette

Pistachio Mortadella, basically like bologna with pistachios.  Yum...

Fennel Sauage

Salt packed capers, that disgustingly I could eat as is.  They are much superior to brine packed capers.  When using salt packed capers be sure to rinse well, or soak.  If not you will end up with a tremendously over salted dish. 

Sweet red peppers

I found this not so good bottle of Vodka in our freezer that nobody would drink.  It was left over from making homemade vanilla extract for Christmas presents. I was inspired to use a dash of it in my pasta sauce. 

To use the sausage for pasta sauce, I slit the casings and emptied the filings out. 

Fennel sausage was browned until just cooked.

In a pinch, the only thing I could think to do with the pistachio mortadella was to chop it up and cook it into the sauce sort of like a bacon.

Parsley, sage, garlic, onions and mortadella were added to the browned sausage.

Once the meat, onions and herbs were nicely browned, I added fresh and canned tomatoes along with Vodka and a dash of cream.  The capers were rinsed and peppers chopped, then added as well.

I love a good bread dip.  In this simple one I combined garlic, sea salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and herbs de provence.  Add some Extra Virgin Olive oil and you have a tasty topping for your baguette.

I thought this fusilli lunghi was so pretty.  It reminded me of long flowing ringlets of blonde hair, or telephone cords (if you can remember those).

I miss my garden lettuce.  The sorrel made such beautiful and vibrant salads.  Here fresh greens are mixed simply with tomato, carrots and a parmesan vinaigrette.

Fusilli Lunghi topped with Fennel Sausage and Mortadella Vodka sauce and Shaved Smoked Caciocavallo