Penne with German Sausages, Brown Button Mushrooms and Rocket Leaves

I arrived Duesseldorf, Germany yesterday to begin a 5 week Work Placement with Messe Duesseldorf GmbH - the famous exhibition organisers for exhibitions like GDS - The Premier Shoe Event, Drupa - The largest Printing Exhibition and many others. I parked at my new abode, a chic studio apartment on the other side of the river, overlooking the Rhein River. 

The first thing I did after putting my bags was grocery shopping. Needless to say food is a very important aspect. So out I set and gathered much needed ingredients for my stay here. Came back all enthusiastic about the prospects of cooking, I forgot to check I did not have the following:

1.     A cooking spatula

2.     A chopping board

3.     A proper knife

4.     A non-stick frying pan

5.     A colander 

I had however pots in abundance, a substantial number of cutlery and probably crockery. So my first meal wasn't the most appetizing - sausages and eggs. But today, I set myself a task and became innovative. Using the tools I had, I was able to cook up Penne with German Sausages, Brown Button Mushrooms and Rocket Leaves.

What did I use to cut the ingredients? A steak knife that surprisingly was sharp. I used a dinner plate as the chopping board. I must say, with limitations, it did not hinder me from actually making a pretty decent dish that was full of flavour. The German Sausages needless to say added the flavour to the dish as it was already salty on its own. The oil that came out of frying the sausages allowed me to add flavor to the other ingredients.

So what are the ingredients?

A bowl              Penne

5                        German sausages – sliced into bite sized pieces

3 large               brown button mushrooms – sliced

A handful          Rocket leaves

A clove of         garlic

                          Salt and pepper to taste.

Method:

1.     First boil a pot of water with oil and salt for the penne. When water comes to boil, add in Penne. Test to see whether Penne is cooked and drain of water. Add in cold water to cool the cooking process.

2.     In another pot, heat up and add in vegetable oil. When oil is heated up, add in sausages to be fried. Halfway through, add in the garlic and later the mushrooms. Continue stir frying until mushrooms look slightly wilted. Add in penne and combine.

3.     Finally add in the Rocket Leaves and stir. Add in salt and pepper to taste.

4.     Serve hot. You can alternatively serve it cold like a pasta salad.

5.     But if you wish to serve as a warm salad, then fry the mushrooms and sausages separately. After tossing penne and rocket leaves together with some olive oil, salt and pepper, let it sit. Just before you serve, fry up the mushrooms and sausages together and serve on top of the pasta salad.

The beauty of pasta is that it acts as a replacement to noodles for us Asians. Germany is not utterly huge on oriental groceries and what you get are the normal ingredients like lemongrass and the occasional finding of Malaysian ingredients. Yet this does not allow many of us to cook Malaysian food. Then again, being Malaysian doesn’t mean that we need to only eat Malaysian food. 

Trust me, this dish was delightful. Simple yet fulfilling.

The alternative Asian in her,

The Innovative Baker