Spice Club from Savory Spice and Coffee Spiced Sausage Rigatoni

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I purchase my spices and herbs from a shop in Lincoln Square called Savory Spice. Last week I received an email from the store’s owner, Dave, asking if I’d be interested in taking a look at a new program they were introducing called Spice Club. Sounded very interesting, especially as an excellent gift idea for the upcoming holiday season, so I said yes.

What is Spice Club? It’s a subscription for monthly delivery of selected spices along with a recipe (using those spices naturally). Spice Club is available in 3 different subscriptions: a 6 month subscription where you receive 14 spices and 8 recipes for$49; a 12 month subscription of 28 spices, 16 recipes, for $79, and a ‘super’ 12 month subscription of 38 spices, 49 recipes, and Savory Spice Shop’s very own ‘Spice to Plate’ cookbook, for $109. More information available on Savory Spice Shop’s website.

In my packet were three samples of a monthly delivery, each containing the aforementioned spice and recipe combo. Me being me, I just had to give one a test run. There was a low country shrimp and rice recipe and one for grilled pinchitos with a yogurt sauce, but the one which caught my eye immediately was for Rigatoni with Coffee Spiced Sausage. If you’re a regular reader you know why. They had me at sausage.

Side Roam: Speaking of faithful regular readers…The Roaming GastroGnome is turning 4! First post was October 30, 2011 if you can beleive it. To celebrate, I finally got around to making a Facebook page. I think the blog is old enough now to have one (how many human years are blog years…?) Link is to the right. If you’re on Facebook, please give us a like and follow! There should be some interesting developments in the coming year announced there. Thanks for reading!

It’s a pretty easy and quick recipe; pasta and a sauce. I liked it because it is quite different from what I’d normally do for a quick weeknight pasta dish. I’d have never thought to use a coffee flavored spice in some sausage, I’ve only seen it on roasts. Of course, I riffed a little on the recipe and changed up a couple of things like using lamb as the meat and adding more stout to the sauce. Turned out really tasty!

One note on the recipe cards I received, while all of them included meat, each one also offered an alternative vegetarian substitute. So yes, Spice Club appears to be non-meat friendly if that’s your thing.

Cheryl was pretty impressed when she looked at the Spice Club contents and thinks this is a really good idea as far as monthly subscriptions go. It’s not that expensive, you’re not getting so much you’ll never use it all, you get to try out new flavors, and it gives you variety. It also looks like your monthly delivery comes in a regular envelope so there’s no bulky box to deal with or throw away, or worry about your package being stolen off of your front porch. I know it may be a little early to start thinking about gifts for friends and family but I think this is a pretty good one for the cook in your life.

Do check it out!

Rigatoni with Coffee Spiced Sausage (adapted from Savory Spice, Spice Club)

• 1 lb ground lamb
• 3 ½ Tbs Savory Spice Black Dust Coffee Spice Rub
• 1 lb rigatoni, cooked
• 1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¾ C of a chocolatey stout beer (or even a coffee stout)
• ¾ C heavy cream
• 10 grape tomatoes, halved
• 4-6 scallions, diced
• 1 large pinch of Savory Spice crushed red pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste

Make the sausage by mixing the ground lamb, and Black Dust Coffee Spice Rub together. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.

Cook rigatoni to al dente, drain and set aside.

In a large skillet, brown the sausage over medium-high heat, 4-6 mins. Stir in the yellow pepper and garlic. Add beer, simmer until reduced by half, 4-5 mins. Stir in cream and simmer for 2-3 mins. Fold in the rigatoni, tomatoes, and scallions. Season with crushed red pepper and salt and pepper. Serve!