Lamb Merguez Sausage, Beet Greens, Garbanzos, Cellentani
This Lamb Merguez Sausage, Beet Greens, Garbanzos, Cellentani is a gem of a salad that I found recently browsing through the Spiced Peach blog archives.
Whether prepared for a Tailgate or a Potluck it was much enjoyed so I had later carefully finished typing out the ingredients, recipe and detailed photos to go along.
Gorgeous fresh beet greens were complemented for this salad but you can cook up any fresh greens you have on hand. If you use spinach though you’ll want to squeeze it dry of the liquid before stirring through the cooked pasta dish.
Lamb Merguez is a delicious spiced sausage and is excellent grilled or cooked on the stove. I luckily happened upon this gourmet specialty on sale at the market one day making it good fortune timing for the event guests as any D’Artagnan product is consistently excellent.
According to the D’Artagnan website, the spiced lamb sausage, Lamb Merguez, is often times grilled and used in varied culinary preparations in North African, French, Israeli, Middle Eastern, and Northern European cuisines.
While Lamb Merguez is a very tasty treat this flavorful salad provides for you to alternatively use any nicely seasoned sausage of your interest. Perhaps you will find these corkscrew shaped cellentani pasta a nice little feature of interest in your salad as well.
Bon Appetit.
Lamb Merguez Sausage, Beet Greens, Garbanzos, Cellentani
Ingredients
- 2- 8.5 ounce packages Lamb Merguez sausages (may be purchased through DArtagnan and other varieties of sausage may alternatively be used)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil if cooking sausages on the stove rather than grilling
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil for the beet greens
- 1 pound beet greens, stems removed, washed, chopped
- 8 slices bacon, crisp cooked, chopped, Reserve all the Grease
- 1 red onion
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
- 1 pound box Barilla Cellentani pasta cooked el dente, plus 1/8-1/4 cup reserved pasta cooking water
- (Cavatappi pasta may be substituted for Cellentani)
- 1 15.5 ounce can garbanzo beans, drained, rinsed, tossed with a touch of olive oil and sprinkled with a pinch or two of salt
- 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- coarse kosher salt
- few grinds cracked black pepper
- 6-8 stems fresh mint, removed from stems, chopped, one sprig reserved for garnish
Instructions
- Grill sausages until cooked
- Alternatively, on medium- high heat brown sausages all around then pour in 1/8 cup of water and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook sausages until done through, around five minutes or longer depending on your range
- Transfer cooked sausages to a cutting board, cool
- Cut grilled or cooked sausages into half-inch or slightly larger pieces
- Heat olive oil in a large nonstick pan, add in the beet greens and cook until fully wilted, sprinkle with a pinch or two of salt, transfer to a small bowl and wipe out the pan to use for preparing the dressing
- On low heat, add 2 tablespoons bacon grease to a wide sided skillet large enough to toss the pasta
- Scrape in the onion, cook for three minutes until softened and translucent
- Sprinkle in the smoked paprika, stir, continue cooking for 30 seconds
- Add in the cooked Cellentani with the reserved pasta cooking water, toss through
- Tumble in the garbanzo beans, stir through
- Pat dry the cooked beet greens then stir through
- On medium heat, using the same cleaned-out pan used for the beet greens, add the remaining bacon grease
- Stir in the Dijon
- Pour in the apple cider vinegar, whisk and cook for a minute Spoon in the sugar, stir and cook for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture begins to thicken
- Use a spatula to add all of the dressing to the pasta mixture, Stir throughout
- Sprinkle in a few good pinches of salt or more plus the pepper, check seasoning, and adjust according to taste
- Turn off heat
- Fold through the chopped bacon and the cooked cut-up sausages
- Stir through the fresh mint
- Arrange some Merguez sausage pieces on top
- Garnish with a mint sprig before serving
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