Sausage and Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

Whenever I ask William what kind of pasta he would like for supper the answer will invariably be, "the kind with the sausage and red peppers."


Good choice. It's not labor intensive, tastes great and the leftovers make a really good pizza sauce (see post below).







The two most important ingredients in this sauce are the sausage and the peppers. Don't substitute green peppers - it will not taste the same.


I have also used supermarket brand sausage and regretted it.

Ingredients:

3Tbs butter or olive oil


3 medium to large red peppers


1 pound hot or mild Italian sausage


1 large white onion





3 cloves of garlic


1 28 ounce can of diced or chef's cut tomatoes


1 14 ounce can tomato sauce


1 Tbs Italian seasoning


1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth.

Directions:

Dice the onions, mince the garlic and cut the red peppers into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

Remove the sausages from their casings. The easiest way to do this is to run a sharp knife down the length of the sausage and peel the casing away. Pinch the sausage into small pieces and saute them in the butter or olive oil until they are lightly browned.

Add the peppers, onion and garlic and saute for five or ten minutes over medium heat until the onion starts to turn translucent. Add the Italian seasoning, tomatoes, tomato sauce and broth or wine.

Simmer for at least 30 minutes or up to a couple of hours. The longer the sauce simmers, the more mellow the flavor will be.

Quick and easy carbonara

Most of the meals and recipes I have posted are time consuming to prepare.

Carbonara not only tastes really good, it's quick to fix.


This is one of those emergency meals you can fall back on in a pinch if you remember to keep bacon in the freezer, pasta and evaporated milk in the cupboard and butter, eggs and parmesan cheese in the refrigerator.
TV chefs always warn against using the pre-grated parmesan cheese in a can but it's truly not that bad and it keeps for quite a while on your shelf.

Another thing that makes this dish so appealing is that you can tailor it to fit your diet.

Trying to cut down on calories? Use less bacon or turkey bacon; less butter, skim milk instead of cream and two whole eggs instead of all egg yolks. When you want to splurge, use the whole pound of bacon, a stick of butter, heavy cream, all egg yolks and more cheese.

There is a slight difference in taste between the two versions but both are good. I compromise by using evaporated milk instead of cream and four tablespoons of butter instead of eight.


I happened to use rigatoni last night but fettuccini, spaghetti, ziti or farfalle work just as well.

Carbonara, my version


Ingredients:

1 pound of thick sliced bacon

2 cups of evaporated milk

1 whole egg plus two egg yolks

1 cup of grated parmesan cheese, divided

4 Tbs butter

1 pound of pasta

salt

pepper

1/8 tsp garlic powder


Directions:

Cook the bacon until crisp then blot with paper towels to remove as much grease as possible.
Break or chop into small pieces and set aside.

Beat the egg and egg yolks into the milk and then add salt and pepper to taste and the garlic powder. Stir in 3/4 cups of grated cheese.

Melt the butter in a large pan.

Cook the pasta for about 10 to 12 minutes until it is done but not mushy.

When the pasta is done, drain it quickly then put it in the pot with the melted butter and pour in the milk, eggs, cheese and spices.

Turn up the heat and stir constantly until the sauce thickens and coats the pasta. Remove the pan from the heat as soon as the sauce has thickened to your liking and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese.

Add a green salad and some bread sticks and you're all set.

In his book, The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian, Jeff Smith offers this version of a lighter carbonara:

Ingredients:

1Tbs olive oil

3 Tbs butter

3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of sliced and chopped prosciutto
1Tbs white wine vinegar
1/2 pound dry penne pasta
2 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Bring a kettle of water to boil for the pasta adding a bit of salt.

Heat a 1-quart saucepan and simmer the oil, butter, milk and prosciutto. Then add the vinegar and continue to simmer for about 5 more minutes.

While the sauce simmers, cook the pasta al dente, drain, and place in a mixing bowl.

If the sauce has cooled during the cooking of the pasta, quickly reheat it.

Add the sauce, the beaten egg yolks and cheese to the pasta. Quickly toss the mixture and check for salt and pepper.

Garnish with additional cheese.