Sausage, Fennel, Pepper, and Goat Cheese Pappardelle

I was browsing some Rachael Ray recipes the other day (I know not everybody loves her, but she does have good ideas) and I found a recipe she called "Good Fennels" pasta. She named it this because it has fennel in it and she likes to eat it while she watches Good Fellas. She really is a dork, haha! The recipe calls for a chunky sauce of cooked Italian sausage, onions, fennel, peppers, and tomatoes that is put on some pasta. I know this is strange, but I don't really fancy tomato sauces on pasta (too boring), so I decided to leave the tomatoes out. Georg can't eat onions, so I left those out too. Instead, I added lots of garlic and goat cheese. I think pork, fennel, and goat cheese are a heavenly combination in almost any situation. Here's a picture of the vegetables cooking in their own juices and some white wine:
My new favorite grocery store has the biggest selection of pasta! They have all the regulars, of course, but also unique shapes like bucatini (hollow, fat spaghetti) and pappardelle, which are basically just fat (1") fettuccine noodles. Even though it tastes the same, I like to try new shapes! I purchased the pappardelle to use in this recipe, although of course any pasta could be substituted.
Another thing I really love about Austria is that when you buy herbs, you pay the same price as in the US, except you get a whole plant instead of a few flaccid leaves smashed into a plastic container. Yay.Here's the finished dish: you can't see the pappardelle very well, but they're there. I garnished the dish with dollops of goat cheese and leaves plucked from my basil plant. Pretty.

To end, here's a picture of our dessert, a chocolate mini bundt cake with chocolate sauce. I didn't make it, I got it in the frozen section and let it thaw while I cooked the pasta. I also wanted to show everybody our kitchen table plant...it's pretty unique. We got it at a cheap grocery store for 50 cents almost a month ago. I have never watered it, even though Georg keeps nagging me to. He gets really stressed out if plants aren't watered, I've noticed recently (weird). For unexplainable reasons, it still looks good even though it's bone dry. I guess it's one of those plants that's supposed to be crusty and dry instead of juicy and supple. So I'm not going to water it...if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Maybe it'll still be in our kitchen come Christmas. I'll keep everyone updated.