Quick Sausage Tomato Sauce

This is a really quick and easy sauce that tastes great. Good for 1lb of pasta.

One thing I recently learned is that it's worth it to pay an extra couple bucks for the better tasting tomatoes. It really makes the sauce that much better.

What you'll need:
1/2 sweet onion (chopped)
3-4 cloves garlic (chopped)
2 28-oz cans of large peeled tomatoes - drained - reserve liquid
5 sausage links
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
Italian Seasoning
Olive Oil
Optional: dash of red wine

1. Put whole sausage on gill pan or grill over med-high heat.


2. While sausage is cooking, add olive oil to large skillet.


3. Add onions and cook until starting to turn translucent - add garlic and cook a minute or two more.


4. Scoop in whole tomatoes and smush into pieces.


5. Add in seasoning and let simmer with top removed.


6. Check on sausage - when it is 90-95% cooked remove from heat and chop into large slices. Add to sauce and bring to high heat to cook sausage the rest of the way through.


7. while the sausage is cooking - add reserved tomato sauce as needed to keep sauce the desired consistency. Keep in mind it thickens up a bit when cooled.

Add to pasta and enjoy.

Can also be made without sausage - but if so be sure to add a little extra oil.

Quick Tomato Sauce

With a large inflow of tomatoes from my garden, I have been eating pasta with tomato sauce 5 out of 7 days of the week. Each time I make it the sauce is a little different. The sauce below is one I made for friends we had over for dinner - it is for 1.5 lbs of pasta.

1 pound chicken sausage, diced
1 can tomato paste
10-12 fresh tomatoes
Italian Seasoning
2 Bay Leaves
4 cloves Garlic
1 Onion
salt/pepper
red pepper flakes
olive oil
Dash of beer

Pour some oil in a frying pan and add sausage. Cook. When mostly done, add half can of tomato paste and a dash of beer to help thin out the paste (could also use wine or water). Mix all together and finish cooking. Remove from heat.

In saucepan, add oil, garlic and onions. Cook until onions are soft. Add the tomatoes, sausage mixture, remaining paste & all seasonings. Mix well.

Bring to a boil and simmer/light boil it to reduce water for 20 or so minutes - until sauce looks a little thicker.

If you have bread on hand, it tastes great sopping up any leftover paste/sausage juice in the pan you cooked the sausage in. So good in fact, that after I run out of tomatoes I may try to make a sauce based on sausage, tomato paste and beer.

Once sauce is done serve over any short pasta with a side of bread and a glass of wine and enjoy.

Pasta and Beans

Pasta and Beans is a great dish I found on the internet, and it's really easy to make. The recipe originally called for plum tomatoes, but grape tomatoes usually taste better so I used them with excellent results. The best part about this meal, aside from it being healthy and easy and tasty is that it looks really pretty.

what you need:
8oz of short pasta
2 packages of grape tomatoes (or 4-5 other tomatoes) chopped
10-12 oz spinach
3 cloves garlic
oregano
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
Parmesan Cheese
Olive oil

Bring water to a boil and add pasta.

As pasta is cooking, sautee garlic in olive oil for 1 minute. Add chopped tomatoes and spices. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring on occasion. With 3 minutes left on pasta, add beans and spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted.

Before draining pasta, add about 1/2 cup of the hot water to the tomato/bean/spinach sauce. Drain the pasta and then add to sauce and mix. The sauce should be slightly runny.

Serve on plate topped with parmesan cheese and enjoy.

Pasta with Tuna and Parsley

The name says it all. Simple yet tasty.

Ingredients:
Pasta
1 large can tuna
1 bunch parsley
1/2 lemon (juiced)
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Cook Pasta

With 3 or so minutes left on pasta, heat olive oil and tuna in skillet over med high heat. Turn to low when pasta is done.

Drain pasta.

Add chopped parsley and a bit of lemon juice to tuna. Mix. Add salt and pepper. Mix. After parsley is in for 30-60 seconds, remove from heat, mix with pasta and serve. Top with more chopped parsley if you want more parsley flavor.

Serve with a veggie and enjoy.

Cheese Ravioli

I'm not even sure this counts as a recipe.

Didn't much feel like cooking tonight, so I picked up a bag of frozen ravioli (cheeper than the refrigerated and better tasting) and a bag of spinach.

For the ravioli, simple sauce of fresh grated parmesan, olive oil, salt and lots of fresh ground pepper.

For the spinach, saute till just wilted in about 1 tsp olive oil per half a bag. Halfway through add creole seasoning. This salts and flavors spinach like no other. This can be started when the timer goes off for the ravioli.


I gotta find some new backgrounds for my food.

Salmon Pasta

This recipe is an old favorite of mine. Very simple, very tasty.

Ingredients:
Salmon
Dill
Pasta - Fettuccine works best
Flour
Skim Milk
Butter
Spinach (optional)
Parmesan Cheese

Poach Salmon.

Meanwhile, cook pasta. The trick with pasta these days is to make sure you get a full pound. Many companies are lowering box sizes down to 15-12 oz. Don't buy them. Also, for some really weird reason, i like my Fettuccine to stick together when it cooks for this dish. So i barely stirred it.

Meanwhile meanwhile, make sauce. Melt a bit of butter (about one tablespoon) in a pot, slowly add about two heaping spoonfuls of flour. Stir in milk till desired consistency. Add dill, spinach (i forgot to buy it), and a lot of cheese (1/4 cup?) I was almost out of cheese because it was covered in mold and i had to slice off most of it.

After Salmon is done, flake with fork - or, to save dishes, the flour spoon. Add to sauce. Add lots of pepper and salt.

Drain pasta well so the water does not make sauce runny. Add to sauce, mix well and eat.
















Tip: To add a little tang to cream sauces made with little butter & skim milk, one may add a tad of mustard. I didn't for this dish though.