Novel Noodles: Maccheroni Rustica with Sausage and Fusilli

There's a reason pasta is such a staple in many kitchens across the globe: it's simple, it's filling, and it can be out-of-this-world tasty if done right. With grilling season gone we've moved towards more hearty indoor meals now, with a focus on dinners that don't cost much but still taste just as good as something you'd eat at a nice sit-down restaurant.

From my time as a vegetarian when I was younger I've acquired quite a few pasta recipes, and there's a whole lot more than just "white" or "red" when it comes to sauce options. We will now be periodically adding new entries to Six-Seven-Eight on novel ways to put together pasta that are much more exciting than just spaghetti and tomato sauce, starting today with a bean and sausage based pasta.

This pasta dish was inspired by a "maccheroni rustica" recipe found in a vegan cookbook, which we ended up modifying heavily by using more of what we had on hand. This goes well for a "Meatless Monday" dish if your family eats vegetarian meals every now and again. For a meat-free version, simply omit the sausage, or replace it with any number of veggie sausage brands.

To start we're going to cook some whole garlic cloves in olive oil. We want the end result to be crunchy and very fragrant, so we're going to cook them until they are *almost* overdone - brown and crunchy, but not yet burned or black.

While the garlic is cooking we've got several Italian sausages heating up in the oven. We didn't need all five for the pasta, so several would be refrigerated and saved for a later meal.

Along with the sausage and garlic we wanted some colorful and flavorful vegetables, but they needed to be more exciting than just doing a standard pan fry. Here we've seasoned up mushrooms, tomato halves, and red bell pepper slices and broiled them in the oven until the skins start to blacken.

After the garlic comes out of the pan, the cloves are chopped into small pieces. These are delicious on their own, and great as a dip if mixed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but instead we'll be using them for a little extra texture in our pasta.

Now that everything has been heated up we slice, dice, and chop into manageable portions to mix with the pasta.

The sliced sausage is put back into the pan with some butter and a smattering of traditional Italian seasonings - basil, oregano, and so on.

After the edges of the sausage get a bit crispy we throw in the garlic and remaining vegetables so they can soak up the seasonings.

For a real twist beyond what you'd normally see in pasta we're adding small red beans. Instead of using canned, we buy dry beans in bags (which is far more cost effective) and then soak them ourselves. One bag goes a long way and can be used for several different meals over the course of a week or longer.

Now it's all starting to come together as the beans heat up and all the flavors are intermingling.

As the rest of the ingredients were heating, we cooked up a box of fusilli pasta, but you can use any kind that strikes your fancy. We like the spiral type pasta here because the small garlic pieces and beans get stuck to them easier, but penne, mostaccioli, cavatappi, or rigatoni would be good fits as well.

Adding the fusilli directly to the pan makes it easier to mix all the flavors together instead of just spooning the topping over the cooked pasta.

A finished bowl of mixed pasta is now looking great, smelling amazing, and just begging to be eaten. While the lack of a liquid sauce might seem strange, the combination of butter and juicy vegetables prevents this from getting dry.

But first, we've got to top it with some shredded cheese!  Parmesan is an obvious choice, but we've gone with mozzarella instead.

There are many more unique and unconventional ways to make pasta night something to remember, and we'll be exploring a whole lot of them down the line. Check back soon for more ways to spice up your home cooking!