Pasta with Italian Sausage, Artichokes, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Roasted Red Pepper

For superbowl this year, I made these appetizers:

Antipasto Sausage Skewers

One of the parties we went to had a theme of "Food on a Stick", and I immediately thought of these delightful little skewers that I saw a while back.

I made a double batch because we had two parties to go to, and well, obviously.

Fortunately, I had over a dozen skewers left over (no room for antipasto skewers when there is Buffalo Chicken Dip at the party!!!), and my friend Gina recommended that I use them to make pasta.

YES PLEASE!

The pasta turned out delightful, and the flavors were amazing.

Steve bought the Italian sausage links from the meat counter at my favorite grocery store, and we grilled them before cutting them into bite sized pieces. It gave the meat a wonderful smokey flavor and I would highly recommend grilling them, although you could get away with cooking them in a pan as well.

I used red wine because that's what I had open, but you could use white instead.

This was super easy because I already had everything cut up and prepped, but I wrote the recipe as if you were starting from the beginning - it is a lot of prep work, but would totally be worth it.

Try this, soon.

That's an order.

Please excuse the pictures...it's very dark in Northern Minnesota in February...

Pasta with Italian Sausage, Artichokes, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Roasted Red Peppers (serves 6)

• 8 oz Italian Sausage links, grilled and cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 cups of artichoke hearts, quartered
• 2 cups of sun-dried tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 cups of roasted red peppers, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup of fresh basil
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (15 oz)
• 1 cup of dry wine (white or red)
• 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 12 ounces of your favorite pasta (I would recommend short pasta like penne)

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

In a large pan or dutch oven, heat the olive oil to medium-high heat. Saute onions and garlic until tender.

Deglaze the pan with wine, cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add sausage, artichokes, tomatoes with all the juices, sun-dried tomatoes, red peppers and basil. Heat through.

Toss in the pasta, top with the Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!!! 

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