Top Chef Season 10 Winner Kristen Kish Teaches a Nurse to Cook Easy Penne and Sausage

Amy Poehler and Bravo’s Top Chef Season 10 winner Kristen Kish have the perfect solution for your self-quarantine cooking fatigue. During a hilarious game of “What the Fridge?” on Peacock’s At Home Variety Show, the pair helped Lindsay, a nurse from Arizona who traveled to New York City to work on the frontline amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, cook a delicious meal for her husband and seven children out of the ingredients already in her refrigerator. 

“I think we need to do a great pasta dish, so you can make a big batch for your family,” Kristen suggested before kicking off the cooking challenge, which you can check out in the video below. The talented chef cooked along with Lindsay over a video chat, using the items in her fridge, as well. “I did not go to the grocery store. Literally making variations off of whatever you have and whatever I have,” she admitted. 

The dish Kristen helped Lindsay make (while Amy cheered them both on from the safety of her own home) was a delicious penne pasta with a sausage carbonara style sauce. The best part? Besides the fact that it could easily be created using the things they both already had handy, it only requires a single pan and a pot to boil pasta in. Check out the easy-to-follow recipe, below. 

Creamy Penne and "Sausage" Pasta

• 1 pound dried penne pasta
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups herbed sausage or sausage substitute
• 4 cups torn kale or another hearty green
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (if you have it)
• Salt
• Black pepper

Directions: 

1. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente.
2. In a large sauté pan, begin browning the sausage in the olive oil. once browned, add the kale and wilt slightly. 
3. Once wilted, add a cup or so of the pasta water and cook down until nearly all the liquid is evaporated and the kale is soft, leaving approximately 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. 
4. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, mix the egg yolk, sour cream, cheese, salt, and black pepper to taste. 
5. Once the sausage and kale are finished, add to the dairy mixture, stirring to ensure the egg yolks don't scramble. 
6. Remove the pasta from the water and mix directly into the mixing bowl with remaining ingredients. 
7. Serve immediately, garnishing with fresh pepper, more cheese, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. 

While the steps needed to create this dish are fairly simple, Kristen did drop an excellent piece of expert advice. “A little tip when you’re using ground meat...using a whisk when you’re stirring it, you get a fine granular grind on the meat as opposed to big chunks of meat.”