Farfalle Pasta Salad with Italian Sausage and Dijon & Siberian Kale Maple Stirfry

For Day 1 of my Five Days of Farmer’s Market Meals, I made a dinner that can be thought of as two side-dishes, two main dishes, or one side dish and one main dish. It’s up to you. Or maybe I’m overanalyzing (typical) and it’s clearly a main dish with a side dish.

I’ve debated this enough.

Either way, it’s a summery meal with lots of flavor and it’s super good for you too!

The farmer’s market ingredients included in this meal are:

Hot Italian Sausage links
Siberian Kale
1 Red Onion
Bunch parsley (freeze what you don’t use)

Farfalle Pasta Salad with Italian Sausage Recipe

What You Need:

1 box farfalle (bowtie) pasta or any pasta shape of your choosing
2-3 large sausages
4 tbsp Pub-style dijon mustard (with the mustard seeds in it)
1 1/2 tbsp parsley
1 tbsp olive oil

What You Do:

Boil salted water in a large pot and cook pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a skillet on low-medium.

De-case the sausage links (if you desire – I always de-case them but I’ve been told that’s a weird thing to do), slice the links into pieces and place in the skillet.

Cook the sausage, stirring it around often, until it’s browned and cooked through.

Drain the cooked pasta and run under cold water, stirring it around, until the heat is gone. Also rinse out the pot a few times with cold water to cool it down and remove the starch.

Place the pasta back in the pot, add the mustard, sausage and parsley and stir until well mixed. Keep covered and warm until ready to serve.

Recipe for Siberian Kale Maple Stirfry

What You Need:

1 bunch Siberian Kale or just your favorite type of kale, coarsely hand-shredded
Half of a medium red onion, diced
1 Serrano pepper, diced (optional)
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
Pinch of ground cumin
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tbsp olive oil

What You Do:

In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add onions, and let simmer for one minute. Add garlic and serrano pepper. Stir continuously until onions become translucent.

Add the kale, stir and let cook until kale becomes soft and starts to reduce.

Add mustard seeds, cumin, and maple syrup. Stir well and serve.