Thursday, May 6, 2010

Pasta with Sausage and Peppers

My husband can really surprise me sometimes. He is definitely a spaghetti and meatball or sausage with red spaghetti sauce kind of guy and hardly ever warmed up to any other kind of pasta-until I made this recipe a couple of years ago. While I love making his favorite dishes, I also like to try new ones, too. Sometimes that is a good thing, sometimes it flops, but not this time. When he was eating this yesterday, he kept saying how good it was. While the pasta is the star of the show in this dish and I only used 3 links of sausage, you don't feel like you are being deprived of protein in any way. I also only had one bell pepper to put in this dish so I took out my frozen bag of peppers that I buy in the grocery store during the months when peppers are way too expensive. I also love how quick this is to put together.

Pasta with Sausage and Peppers

2 tablespoons oil
About 1 (you can use more or less) pound hot or sweet Italian sausage, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
OR
1 bag of frozen chopped peppers
1 large onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes with juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound pasta (I used penne rigate), cooked according to package directions
Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook sausage until browned. Add the peppers, onions, basil, and oregano and cook until the vegetables are almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic the last couple minutes.
Add the tomatoes with the juice, season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 5 minutes. Add the cooked pasta and toss.
Add the parmesan cheese to taste and serve immediately or pass the Parmesan cheese separately at the table.
Serves 6.

I'm participating in Make It From Scratch, Foodie Fridays, and Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

3 comments:

Sheila said...

Yum!! This is one of the few ways I love pasta. Thanks for sharing.

Cindy said...

This sounds really good. I'm always looking for new recipes to get out of my rut!

Suzy said...

I love it when I find a new dish my husband loves too. This one sounds great. I'll give it a shot here..maybe he will want it added to our repertoire :-)