You want to start off making your turkey "sausage". You can use chicken or pork but I chose turkey. Use the ground turkey with white and dark meat in it. For the BEST results make this the night before so you can give all the flavors time to combine. I made it before I started making everything else and just stuck it into the fridge until I needed it. It came out just fine! Ok so in a pound to a pound and a quarter of ground turkey add:
3 cloves grated or chopped garlic
A few stems of rosemary (2-3 Tbsp)
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp fennel seed
Sea salt and pepper
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Side note: I always chop up my fennel seeds a bit because my husband doesn't like biting down on them.
Mix this up to make sure everything is distributed evenly throughout the turkey. Stick in the fridge covered until ready to use.
Ok now I'm going to warn you that the rest of the recipe doesn't have the most visually appealing colors. :)
It doesn't matter because it delicious!!
Now it's time to preheat your oven to 400 degrees. This is for roasting your garlic.
I am using two heads of garlic. When you roast garlic it turns into this wonderful sweet flavor. So two heads isn't going to be overly garlicky tasting. It's a completely different flavor when it's roasted. Cut the tops of the bulbs off to expose most of the cloves. You can discard the top half. Place them separately on a small piece of foil. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Wrap them up in your foil and roast for 40-45 minutes. While those are roasting you will carmelize your onions.
So while your garlic is roasting slice up two large onions. It will look like a ton of onions but they will cook way down and develop yet another amazing sweet flavor.
To a deep skillet on medium heat melt a few pats of butter and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Let it come to a tiny simmer and add your onions and knock your heat to medium low. You might have to adjust your heat up and down. You don't want to cook your onions to quickly or burn them. They need a little time to develop that sweet delicious flavor.
Now toss all your onions around so they are coated in your butter and oil. Add just a pinch of sea salt and a scant teaspoon of sugar. Toss that around and cook your onions low and slow stirring occasionally. Don't let them brown. They will turn a brown color but you don't want browned (burnt) edges. Give it time. Mine took a little longer than my roasted garlic.
Ok fine I'll admit it I browned a few edges!! It's only my second time carmelizing onions ( the first being a complete fail ) so I was proud of how they turned out and hey it was still delicious!! At least they weren't burnt right?
(Oh and by the way I added a little fresh thyme to my onions. I had some In the fridge and decided to throw it in but it's completely optional.)
Ok now that I got that off my chest it's time to deglaze your onions with about a half cup of dry white wine. Or any white wine for that matter. Any kind you prefer. Let that reduce some until it thickens up.
Now you've probably pulled your garlic bulbs out of the oven and opened the foil to let them cool. Make sure they are cool enough to handle because you are going to turn the bulb upside down and squeeze that deliciousness out. 90 percent of the time I do it while it's still a tad to hot so be careful. You will have a nice little pile of roasted garlic when you are done.
About now you can make sure the water for your pasta is working on boiling.
Start to brown up your turkey "sausage". While your sausage is browning up add your onions and roasted garlic to a bowl. Add in about 1 1/2 cups chicken stock. Use your hand blender (immersion blender) to purée it up until it is nice and smooth.
Have you noticed I use my immersion blender a lot? I absolutely love that thing. I was at kohls one day with my nana and she asked me if I needed one. I said yes because I really wanted to start making my own salad dressings at the time. She ended up buying me one that day and the rest is history.
Now I use it for SO MANY things it's crazy. I don't know how I ever lived without it. You can pick them up pretty cheap too. I've seen cute colorful ones at Gordmans for like 10 bucks!!! If you don't have one definitely go pick one up. You won't regret it!
Ok back to the food. Your puréeing your onions, garlic and chicken stock.
Yum!
Hey make sure you've dropped your pound of rigatoni into your salted boiling water.
When your sausage is browned up add your garlic and onion mixture to it along with about 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream. ( half and half works too )
Stir this around without simmering it. You don't want this on to high of heat. Your milk could separate. Now add a good amount of Parmesan cheese!!
Stir this up until your cheese is all melted into the sauce.
Drain your pasta and add the sauce to it and toss vigorously to combine.
Ok my mouth is watering! This pasta to SO good!!! A little time consuming with the onions and garlic but so worth it in the end. You have that delicious sweetness from your onions and roasted garlic with a little bit of spice in the background from your sausage.
Everything balances out perfect. I will be making this again soon. ( I will let you know how my onions turn out next time. ;) )
I really think you guys will enjoy this dish. Thank you to everyone who reads my blog!
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