A New Love

Recently, I was introduced to Sweet Italian Sausage. Now it's a favorite meat selection for supper recipes.

One of my favorites: Bow Ties with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream from allrecipes.com 

This is a simple recipe if you don't mind all of the calories. 

Bow Ties with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream

TIME: Prep: 15 min. Cook: 30 min.

Ingredients:

·      1 (12 ounce) package bow tie pasta

·      2 tablespoons olive oil

·      1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled

·      1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

·      1/2 cup diced onion

·      3 cloves garlic, minced

·      1 (28 ounce) can Italian-style plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped

·      1 1/2 cups heavy cream

·      1/2 teaspoon salt

·      3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (or 3/4 tablespoons dried parsley)

Directions:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat.

Cook sausage and pepper flakes until sausage is evenly brown. Stir in onion and garlic, and cook until onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes, cream, and salt (and dried parsley). Simmer until mixture thickens, 8 to 10 minutes.

Stir cooked pasta into sauce, and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley. Yield: 6 servings. 

Notes: I season the sausage while cooking with some additional onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Instead of a 28 oz can Italian-style plum tomatoes, most recently I've used 1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and onion and 1 (14.5 oz) can of diced fire roasted tomatoes. Add dried parsley when stirring in tomatoes, cream and salt. Penne pasta also works well in this dish.