Recipe(tried): Tuscany Peasant Dish

I've been wanting to make something with some ingredients I had on hand and use up some leftovers, too. I ended up using so many ingredients that I could have fed 10 people! MORE LEFTOVERS again, ha -

But really tasty and I think I'd actually do it for casual company, too with a salad and crusty bread.

Here goes -

TUSCANY PEASANT DISH

1 pkg. Butoni Italian sausage flavored tortellini, cooked and drained
pine nuts, toasted
2 or 3 links of medium hot Italian Sausage
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped coarsely
5 large cloves garlic, sliced or coarsely chopped
5 or 6 large leafs fresh basil, coarsely torn
1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 small cans diced tomatoes (or one large)
1 cup plus leftover marinara sauce
leftover 1/2 chicken meat (picked from store rotisserie chicken, cut into bite sized pieces)
1 (1 lb) can cannelini white beans, drained slightly
Freshly ground black pepper and a little sea salt (to taste)
freshly grated parmesan cheese
fresh parsley (for garnish)

Cook the Butoni refrigerated type tortellini and drain, set aside.

Toast some pine nuts in a dry pan and set aside.

Brown the Italian sausage in olive oil until it's well cooked through. Remove sausage from pan and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in same oil, saute the onions and garlic until translucent.

Add in the torn basil leaves, the squeezed spinach, canned tomatoes and leftover marinara sauce. Simmer.

Cut the browned sausage into rounds and add to simmering mixture, then cut the cooked deli chicken into slices or bite sized pieces and add. Drain the white beans slightly and add. Salt and pepper to taste at this point.

Let everything simmer together for another 10-15 minutes. Put in the drained tortellini before the final 10 minutes of simmering. Don't add them too much ahead of that, or they'll fall apart and be too soft.

Serve in pasta bowls. Top with browned pine nuts, freshly grated parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

YUMMY!

June