Mascarpone, Sausage and Squash Pasta x Viognier
Lessons in astrology and signs from the universe
If you didn’t notice when this newsletter arrived in your inbox, we went through a little rebranding over the weekend. No longer are we Sommthing Different, but...
FORKS AND CORKS!
Welcome to the new, new blog. It’s nice to have you here.
Forks and Corks feels much more relevant to the topics I love (food and wine, obviously) and a bit more respectful to those sommeliers who are currently hard at work at your favorite restaurants and wine bars. I’m certified as a sommelier, but I’m primarily a wine writer, researcher, educator and marketer (one day, I’ll have a more succinct way to describe what exactly it is I do). I felt like I needed to change it up – rebrand, as it were.
The idea of a rebrand has been a theme in my life as of late. Change is in the air (and, quite fittingly so with the turn of the seasons). For the last few weeks, it seemed that everywhere I looked, signs from the universe were being pelted at me like ninja stars. Even just checking the notifications on my phone, there was Pattern or Co-Star (the astrology apps) telling me how my life was changing. Now, I take astrology with a grain of salt, as I do everything – food and belief systems, included – but let me tell ya, spookily accurately. IG reels were pummeling me with similar warnings of a tumultuous season. And finally, the nail in the coffin, so to speak. I came home the other week to my glass coffee table having spontaneously combusted. Glass shards, glass threads, glass chunks had erupted across the living room. We had to vacuum over the rug ten separate times before it was all cleaned up. Now, some cultures say that this is bad luck…but I didn’t like this, so I looked around to see what other interpretations I liked better.
Congratulations. Resilience. Strength. The ability to see beauty even in difficult circumstances. Happiness and good luck. Positive changes.
I think that signs are what you make them. So, I’m determined to see this as a good thing. I’m taking it in stride, finding my rhythm, and re-evaluating my goals. Taking a hard look at my life to see what I need to work on (sometimes crying about it), and then pulling up my big girl pants to get. shit. done.
This blog is one of my goals. I’d been playing chicken on Substack for months – thinking, re-thinking, procrastinating, drafting and not publishing, and over-analyzing everything - even things that I hadn’t even written yet.
But what I’ve found, is that despite those fears and anxieties, I love writing here every week. It feeds my body and soul. It encourages me to keep going, keep experimenting, keep believing in myself – not just in my writing, but in other areas of my life, too. This weekly newsletter is just as much for you, my lovely readers, as it is for me.
And now, for this week’s recipe…



MASCARPONE, SAUSAGE AND SQUASH PASTA
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4 people
THE INGREDIENTS
The Pasta
Pasta / enough for 3-4 people
Sweet Italian Sausages / 3 links, crumbled and relieved of their casings
Olive oil / 2 TB
Butternut Squash / 1 cup, chopped into bite-sized cubes
Yellow onion / 1, finely diced
White Wine / 1/2 cup
Garlic cloves / 4, finely minced
Spinach / 3 cups, packed
Mascarpone / 4 ounces
Parmesan / 1/4 cup, finely grated
Salt and Pepper
Parsley / 1/4 cup, finely chopped
Dried Seasonings (red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme, rosemary, dried onions, whatever you have on hand) / a dash of each
Cannellini Beans / 1 cup, pre-cooked
The Breadcrumbs
Olive oil / 3 TB
Panko breadcrumbs / 1/2 cup
Salt and pepper
Dried Seasonings (red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme, rosemary, dried onions, garlic powder, whatever you have on hand) / a dash of each
Parmesan / 1/4 cup-ish, finely grated
I know, I know. Another pasta dish? More sausage? More mascarpone?
YES! And I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you. *Brace yourself for more pasta recipes in the upcoming weeks. It’s half my diet.
THE RECIPE
Boil a pot of water. Once boiling, season with salt (a palmful) and add your pasta.* Reserve a cup of the pasta water.
While the water boils, prepare your sauce. In a large saucepan, cook you crumbled sausage until it starts to brown. Remove from the pan. DO NOT rinse the pan.
In the same pan that you cooked your sausages, drizzle in olive oil and heat, before adding in butternut squash and onions. Cook down until your vegetables start to caramelize and are soft to touch. Season with salt, pepper and dry herbs. Deglaze the pan with 1/2 a cup of dry white cooking wine. Add in your finely chopped garlic, spinach, and mascarpone. Stir until combined. Add in pasta water, a few spoonfuls at a time, until the sauce reaches a creamy consistency. Before you’re about to serve, mix in your cannellini beans and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
When you’ve finished putting together the sauce, make your breadcrumbs. Heat olive oil in a shallow pan and then add your panko breadcrumbs, seasonings, and parmesan all together. Continuously stir until bread crumbs are golden brown.
Now, assemble your pasta dish. Combine pasta with sauce and top with breadcrumbs, freshly diced parsley, and more grated parmesan.
*I like using dischi volanti (which translates in English to “flying saucers” and were in fact inspired by UFO sitings in Italy) because the pasta curves hold onto the creamy sauce really well, but any ridged pasta shape should do the trick (think fusilli, radiatori, etc).
dischi volanti pasta, i.e. flying saucers pasta
THE PAIRING:
Squash, Sausage and Mascarpone Pasta x 2022 Baglio di Pianetto Viognier
While Viognier is most famously produced in France’s Rhone Valley (or more particularly, within appellations of Condrieu or Chateau-Grillet), it’s not unheard of for it to be produced in the Americas, New Zealand or even South Africa. So, I have to say that I was surprised and delighted when I came across this organic wine from Sicily.
It’s quite fruity on the nose, reminiscent of quince, pineapple, mango (a lot of yellow, tropical fruit, actually) with the slightest hint of salted nuts. On the palate, it’s creamy and balanced.
Why the wine works….
The wine’s sweet, fruity notes complement the sweetness of the butternut squash and the mascarpone in the pasta. The wafts of salty nut stand up to the salt and savoriness coming from the Italian sausage and the parmesan. If you agree with my wine pairing, let me know in the comments!
What else would I pair with this wine?
Buttery seafood or shellfish (like crab, lobster, or scallops – especially those that are doused in a heavy cream or butter-based sauce)
A sweet-glazed fatty pork dish (like bbq pork belly with a mango-jalapeno relish or apricot-balsamic cooked pork chops)
Yellow curry (hear me out, the wine’s floral aromas and notes of yellow-fruit bring out the sweetness of the curry and highlight its complex flavor profile)
FOOD AND WINE PAIRING TIPS:
- As a general rule, sweet wines pair best with sweet dishes and dry wines (those with less residual sugar) pair best with savory dishes.
- High acid, or tart, wines pair well with both sweet foods and fatty foods (the acid balances out the sweet, and cuts through the fat to refresh your palate).
- The heavier your food, the more full-bodied the wine.
The best tip of all. Throw all the tips out the window. You should think of wine pairing tips as more of guidelines rather than law (you know, like the pirate’s code). While these pieces of advice might work for me, they might not work for you. You should keep an open mind. In experimenting with different food and wine pairings, you might even stumble across the gnarliest, most delicious, most unexpected pairing in the world. Whatever you try, just please remember to share your favorite pairings with me. I’d like to try them, too!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
CORK OUT: FREE GUIDES FOR THE WINE CURIOUS
Interested in learning even more about wine? This page is for you.