Sausage, Spinach, Mushroom and Goat's Cheese Pasta

     The weather was really gross out today so I didn't want to go to the grocery store to get stuff for the dinner I wanted to cook. I'll be less lazy and go to the grocery store some other time this week and make that. Instead I made "Sausage, Spinach, Mushroom and Goat's Cheese Pasta" because I had all the ingredients laying around. This dish is something I made up myself (to my knowledge… I'm sure there are similar recipes out there somewhere). One day last semester I was just envisioning what I wanted my dinner to taste like and those things sounded like they'd be so delicious together. Because I wasn't following a recipe and I was doing it by taste, reproducing the deliciousness from the first time I made it was kind of hard.
     The ingredients are: sausage, onions, mushrooms, garlic, goat's cheese, parmesan cheese and white wine (plus salt and pepper to taste). When I made it tonight I used Sherry (which is a sweet white wine often used for cooking) instead of a normal white wine… because I wanted to drink that. Although it was delicious none the less, I think the Sherry gave too much of a different flavour from what I wanted/expected. When I make it again, I'll stick to white wine like I originally did.
     The steps to make this are very simple. First, cut up your sausage (mild or spicy italian) into bite size pieces and put in a frying pan with a little bit of olive oil. Then cut up onion, mushrooms and garlic. When the sausage is basically done cooking put in the onions and mushrooms. Don't put the garlic in right away because you don't want it to burn while the onions and mushrooms are softening (a trick my sister taught me). Once they have softened up a bit toss in the garlic and spinach. I used frozen spinach because I had that handy, but I suggest fresh spinach if you have it. Once the spinach has wilted down toss in some wine (enough to just cover the bottom of the pan). Let the flavours cook for a bit and then toss in your desired amount of goat's cheese (the more the better!). Once your desired kind of pasta is cooked, add that to the pan with the sauce and toss around. The first time I made this I didn't need to add anything for more flavour, but this time I added salt, pepper and a pinch of thyme and basil. Top with some fresh parmesan.