Farro Pasta with Pineapple, Sausage and Goat Cheese

It all started with pineapples. I had never been a huge pineapple fan, but then I spent my honeymoon in Thailand and fell in love with the fruit. Ate it constantly. My favorite breakfast (for this sweet toothed Westerner) was a Thai crepe stuffed with grilled pineapple and drizzled with sweet coconut cream. I am fairly sure it was their idea of dessert, but this chick needs some sugar in the morning, not a curry! Anyway… the point being a fresh picked local pineapple really bears no resemblance to the fruit we get here in Ohio. After a while I forgot about it, because you just cannot get a fresh-picked pineapple in Ohio (I know that’s a shock).

Then we went on the cruise. And pineapple was served at almost every meal (along with melons), and I ate pineapples nonstop. So now I have been craving pineapple–and so of course I tried buying some pineapple here. Because apparently I need to learn that lesson more than once! Alas. Which is how I ended up with 2/3 of a pineapple that needed to be used. But if the pineapple was not perfect for eating out of hand, it was at least good for cooking.

I think just about anything can be tossed with pasta–rather like just about anything can be put on a pizza. No it is not super traditional, but it sure was super tasty. My initial inspiration came from finding this Pineapple Bacon Chicken Sausage from Aidell’s at Jungle Jim’s.  Then when I had the remaining pineapple sitting in my fridge and the newly purchased sausage in my freezer it just seemed like a sign. And it was a beautiful sign. This was absolutely devoured. Both children pouted when they realized it was an unusual (for us) one night only meal, no leftovers to be had.

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Farro Pasta with Pineapple, Sausage and Goat Cheese

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Pasta

Author: TheSpicedLife

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried farro pasta
• 1-2 T fruity extra virgin olive oil (not expensive though)
• 1 lb smoked sausage, sliced into half moons (I used Aidell's pineapple bacon chicken sausage)
• 1 small-medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 heaping T minced garlic
• 2 sweet bell peppers, thinly sliced
• 2-3 cups pineapple chunks, about 2/3 of a small pineapple
• 2-3 T chopped flat leaf parsley
• 2-3 oz crumbled goat cheese

Instructions

1. Cook pasta until al dente, reserving half cup of the cooking liquid.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. When it is hot, add the sausage and brown it, about 10 minutes. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon to a bowl and set aside.
3. Add the onion with a pinch of salt to the heated pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the garlic and bell pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. If at any point it starts to stick or scorch, add a tablespoon or two of water.
5. Add the pineapple chunks. Toss for 1 minute.
6. Add the pasta and reserved pasta cooking water. Toss and cook all of the water off.
7. Turn off the heat and toss in the parsley and 2 ounces of the crumbled goat cheese.
8. Serve with a few extra crumbles of goat cheese on top.