Pasta With Veggie Sausages, Fennel and Carrots

I mean really, how do people name dishes like this? I made pasta, I cooked vegetables with spices. I tossed in some fruit. I made a sauce. I suppose it should have some fancy name to encourage Google searches but really, it is just a bowl of pasta. The boys really liked it, and I have enough to feed them leftovers tomorrow-so hooray for me!

The school year has officially started here at Apples and Friends Homeschool (no, we didn't name it that on the State forms-most people just use their family name) and that unfortunately does not leave tons of extra time for blogging. Sorry. You're welcome to come over and read Man Without A Country at lunchtime though. We like to read at lunch, impolite though it may be.

Last Sunday, I stopped by a discount store to buy the mega-sized bottle of Ibuprofin. I noticed they had teacher's lesson plan books, so I grabbed one as well. I didn't realise how hilarious it looked until the man in line with me began laughing. He wished me a good school year, which was nice.

Apologies out of the way, here's a recipe for a quick odds and ends meal. You can of course use a bag of dried pasta, which indeed I would have, were there any to be had at home. I really need to get to the grocer. Thank goodness for root vegetables and dried fruit.

You Will Need:

For the pasta:

3 large egg yolks plus 1 whole egg
3 tablespoons ice water
1 scant teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semolina flour
1-2 cups AP flour

Beat the eggs until light. Add the water, salt and semolina-beat well. By hand, mix in enough AP flour to make a very stiff dough. Knead lightly, wrap in cling film and let rest 30 minutes. Roll out, and cut into noodles (any way you prefer. I use a pasta machine, but a rolling pin works too).

Let cut noodles dry on racks for 1 hour before transferring to plastic bags to store in fridge until needed.

For the Vegetables:

1/2 package vegetarian sausage substitute (I used Gimme Lean)
Cracker crumbs (I used matzo meal)
1/3 cup olive oil
6 large carrots, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon preserved lemon peel, finely chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons sweet paprika

Form sausage substitute into balls and roll in crumbs. Chill on a plate until ready to fry.

In a large, deep pan heat the olive oil and add the carrots, lemon peel, raisins, fennel, and garlic. Fry over medium heat until carrots begin to soften. Add parsley, salt, pepper and paprika. Mix well to coat the vegetables. Reduce heat and cook over low until carrots are quite soft, and sauce begins to thicken. Meanwhile, fry the sausages in a small amount of olive oil until nicely browned. Add to vegetables. Cook pasta, and drain. Mix with vegetables and sausages. Serve hot (veggie sausage meat does not do well cold).