Pasta with Italian Sausage and Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce

Yum. I posted this recipe last spring (which is a similar recipe), in anticipation of a long and plentiful tomato season.

It is adapted from a recipe that my "Auntie" Gale made for me when I was living in North Carolina and she came to visit.

That was 8 years ago, and I have been making different adaptations of it regularly since.

Kempton was just a tiny baby then. 

This time of year, I am either using frozen tomatoes out of my summer stash, or the canned/boxed kind, but you could also use fresh.

To be honest, if you really needed a fast dinner you could buy a jar of pre-made Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce.

But I would recommend making your own - it tastes better and you will feel better serving it your family.

Plus, what would I do to relieve stress if I wasn't making complicated recipes from scratch on weeknights?

So you're support of this blog is actually contributing to the improvement of my mental health!

Huh?

Anyway...

For my recipe I also used Steve's family's homemade Italian sausage, but you can use store bought bulk or links.

If you don't know how to roast peppers, check out my previous post for a step-by-step!

One other thing - you could add mushrooms if you had them on hand. Just saute them while you are sauteing the onions and garlic! 

Try this soon - you'll love it!

Pasta with Italian Sausage and Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce (serves 8)

• 1 lb penne pasta
• 1 lb hot Italian sausage
• 52 ounces of undrained diced tomatoes (I used 2 26 oz boxes of Pomi tomatoes)
• 2 roasted red peppers (see previous post for step-by-step), peeled and diced
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 oz sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (less if you don't like spicy)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar (or to taste)
• 4 oz crumbled feta cheese (you could sub goat or Parmesan cheese), plus more for serving

Heat a large skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat. Add Italian sausage, onion and garlic. Cook until sausage is brown and onion is tender.

Add tomatoes, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, red pepper, salt, pepper and sugar and bring to a low boil.

Reduce heat and simmer sauce for 30 minutes or until it is your desired consistency, adding salt, sugar and red pepper to taste.

While sauce is cooking, cook pasta according to package directions.

Toss cooked noodles with sauce (adding half at a time - you want to make sure you have plenty of sauce), add feta cheese and toss to combine.

Serve with extra feta

Enjoy!

Printable Recipe