I watched Mark Bittman wrap romaine leaves around fish and poach it in white white. I tried it. It was amazing. It was beautiful. It was impressive. But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about Romaine.

We all think of Romaine as a salad leaf, meaning, it’s not getting cooked. We make salads out of it and call it a day. When the leaves cooked to a tasty perfection wrapped around fish at Bittman’s instruction, I saw my next obsession blossom: cooking Romaine.

Because I had left over from the the fish recipe, it was the perfect excuse to cook some up next. I came up with this pasta dish:

Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage and Romaine

whole wheat pasta, any kind you jab with a fork
spicy sausage links
romaine leaves, sliced in 2″ pieces
fresh garlic, sliced
1 cup of white wine
red pepper flakes to taste

Brown the sausage links until they are cooked enough to cut (in 1″ chunks) and not spill out. After they are cut, put back into the pan and finish cooking. When the sausage is cooked, remove from heat, set aside and brown the sliced garlic in the same sausage pan with the liquid love that came from the sausage. When the garlic is sufficiently browned, add the white wine, scraping off the flavor crystals from the bottom of the pan. When the wine is hot, add the romaine. Cook on high heat, but not boiling, until the hardest of the center ridges of the romaine are slightly tender.

While all this is going on, boil the pasta al dente.

When the pasta and romaine are both done, combine into whatever pot will fit them both. Add the sausage. Add the red pepper flakes. Heat through. Eat.