Kitchen: Sausage Pasta

Sausage Pasta: quick and easy

This is one of my recipes that I make that is part comfort food, and part "heat and eat".  
It is exquisitely easy and can be varied to suit your lifestyle.


Generally, I serve this with ditalini pasta, but in this case I happened to use orecchiette. 
I also like to grate a little medium cheddar and throw a few sliced olives on top.  

This is not a good recipe if someone can't tolerate whole seeds due to dental issues.  Using ground spices doesn't work well with this recipe.

I started making this in the early 1980's.  


Sausage Pasta

Start heating the water for the pasta.  (Follow the directions on the package for the amount of water and the time to cook)

Sauce:

1 pkg of Hillshire Farms Beef Smoked Sausage, sliced
brown the slices, and if you want to reduce calories (and unfortunately--the taste) remove the fat from the pan...otherwise, leave the fat in for more flavor.

Add:
2 TB dried minced onion 
(you can use 1 small to medium fresh onion if you want, but that would take more time and the flavor isn't as good, in this case.)
1 TB whole yellow mustard seed  (ground mustard really doesn't work here)
1/2 tsp whole celery seed (don't substitute celery salt, it will be too salty and taste too much like celery)  The idea is that you want the whole seeds flavor to "pop"...but not cover the other flavors.
2-3 15 oz.cans plain tomato sauce (OR puree OR crushed)  or a combination of them.


That's it...just allow the dried onions and the seeds to absorb the liquid from the tomatoes on low heat for about 20 minutes.  You are only trying to soften the seeds and allow the flavors to meld.  


(Optionally...you may wish to add a tsp of sugar (to cut the acidity)  and a bit of EVOO just prior to serving.  Serve over the drained cooked pasta and top with grated medium cheddar cheese and black olives.)

Substitutions:
Use the Chicken or Turkey versions of the sausage, or leave out the meat if you are so inclined...use any type of pasta, whether whole wheat, rice, corn, or quinoa.  You might like to try it over the strands of Vegetable Spaghetti squash.

Usually it takes about 30 minutes to prepare start to finish.  Add a green garden salad to complete the meal.