Quick Pasta Dish

Quick Pasta

 Quick Pasta Dish

Every parent has a quick, ‘Go to’ dish when it comes to feeding their family in a hurry. When you need something more hearty than spaghetti, try this easy pasta dish that combines sweet Italian sausage and a zesty homemade pasta sauce; all the taste with just 5 ingredients and ready in 20 minutes

Shopping List: Feeds a family of 4

  • Fully Cooked Italian Sausage ( 1 pound) – Cut slices of sausage
  • 1- 14 oz. Can of Stewed Tomatoes
  • 1- 3oz. can of Tomato Paste
  • Italian Seasoning
  • Dried Pasta ( 1  pound)
  • Accent Items to have around; Parmesan Cheese, Minced Garlic, Olive oil, and fine chopped onion

Kitchen Tools:

  • Boiling Pot for Pasta
  • Fry Pan to cook Sausage
  • Wooden Spoon or Spatula for both sauce and pasta

The key to this dish is the simplicity of needing only 5 ingredients. Just a pound of cooked sausage, a few spices, and pound of dried pasta such as rigatoni and you are all set. With children, I prefer sweet Italian Sausage for this recipe. If your kids have a more mature pallet, don’t hesitate to buy Spicy Italian Sausage or even add a pinch or two of dried red pepper flakes into this recipe. A one pound, cooked sausage is readily available at most supermarkets. The next item on your list will be pasta sauce base. I like to use a 14 oz. can of stewed tomatoes (Italian Recipe Style) and small 3 oz. can of Tomato paste for my base sauce. The next item to buy will be Italian Seasoning, (mixture of Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Fennel) this will go into my sauce base.

Cooking Steps:

  • Bring Large pot of salted water to a boil. Keep it on boiling, while you start the pan with a little olive oil, chopped onion and minced garlic. Once brown, add sausage wheels into mix for about 10 minutes, or until brown. Keep about 1 tablespoon of grease from the pan. Return pan back to heat and add can of stewed tomatoes and mix half of can of the tomato paste with 1 tablespoon of the Italian seasoning. Allow tomatoes to caramelize, ( about 3 minutes under the heat)
  • Cook Pasta according to the package directions. Drain pasta and keep about 1/3 cup of the ‘pasta’ water. Pour that water into to the pan of tomato sauce. Use spatula to scrape the drippings from the fry pan to mix well with tomato mixture.
  • Now place drained pasta, cooked sausage into the sauce and mix well so that the sauce and pasta are completely covered. Serve with Parmesan Cheese and Red Pepper flakes according to your taste.

Enjoy!

 
 

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