Toss Together Chorizo, Feta and Tomato Pasta

On Sundays, I cook. Maybe it’s cliche, I don’t know. But Sunday is the day when I make a big batch of something for lunch that we can nibble from during the week. Hopefully, that something is also good for Will’s lunch on Monday too.

It’s also the day that I usually bake to fill the cookie jar, which is a fun indulgence. Oh and I test out new recipes too.

Sunday is also the day that we go to the library and enjoy fresh donuts from the local bakery. If I have time, I sit on the couch and read too, getting lost in books. It’s a good day.

This past Sunday started out busy. Too busy. I was rushed, so my breakfast was merely the coffee I drank before dashing out the door with the kids. Don’t worry – they ate, polishing off special toasted bread, berries and more. By the time we arrived home for lunch, I was beyond starving, which added some pressure.

Lunch couldn’t be complicated. No, it needed to be fast, simple and still be worth making and eating.

Fortunately, I have a few tricks that I turn to for a quickie meal for the kids and I. First, I keep chicken sausage in my fridge (and freezer). Precooked chicken sausage is so easy to heat up and serve. I’ve served fat apple maple links with omelets for lunch. Sweet Italian chicken sausage with sauce for dinner. Caprese sausage with mashed potatoes. This weekend, we were down to two varieties: spicy mango or chicken chorizo.

I opted for the latter.

Second, beyond having a treasure trove of uses for the sausage, I have my standby dish, which is basically a formula for a foolproof throw together pasta: 8 oz dried pasta (cooked) + 4 cooked and sliced sausage links + cheese of choice + tomatoes, peppers or vegetables, all tossed with a touch of oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. It couldn’t be easier.

For this week’s dish, I combined the slightly spicy chorizo with salty feta and sweet diced tomatoes. It was a symphony of flavors and textures that was different enough to not seem repetitive, but familiar enough to make us enjoy it. With the mere addition of salt, pepper and walnut oil, the dish was transformed from a bunch of random ingredients into something that the kids couldn’t wait to eat again (a good thing, since we had it for dinner tonight too).

There have already been requests for me to make this again. Sounds like a winner.

Do you have a go-to dish? What is it?