Pasta in Sausage, Cremini, and Tomato Cream Sauce

Sitka Sound's Note:

This delicious pasta is very simple to make, yet it tastes as though it took hours. There are many variations of this recipe, but I've found this to be the easiest and best tasting. It is by no means a low-fat meal, but if you go for a nice big walk after you eat, you will think this pasta was worth the extra exercise! Serve it with a crisp salad and some crusty bread (for mopping up any excess sauce!).

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 12 ounces pasta, Bow-Tie or 12 ounces penne
• 1 lb hot Italian sausage , ground
• ½ cup onion , diced
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 10 medium cremini mushrooms , sliced
• 1 (16 ounce) can diced and peeled tomatoes , drained
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• ½ cup parmesan cheese , freshly grated

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter and cook onions until they start to soften, stirring frequently.
2. Add mushrooms and garlic to skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms soften and onions begin to turn translucent (about 5 minutes).
3. At this point, bring water to boil in a large pot. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Shoot for an al dente pasta, as it will hold up better in the sauce.
4. Add ground sausage to skillet and, using a spatula, break it into chunks as it cooks. Adjust temperature as needed to thoroughly cook the sausage.
5. When sausage is browned, drain any drippings off of the skillet. Return to medium heat and add drained tomatoes.
6. When tomatoes have heated through, add cream, thyme and rosemary. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to med-low.
7. Simmer until sauce thickens (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and add cheese, stirring until melted into the sauce.
8. Add cooked pasta to skillet and toss with sauce. Adjust the amount of pasta added to the skillet according to how 'saucy' you like your dish.
9. Season with salt, fresh ground pepper to taste. Garnish with additional grated parmasean and fresh parsley.

Reviews

[hoagiegift]

Good but not exciting. Used sweet sausage and diced tomatoes; will try with hot sausage and no kids next time.

[DebS #2]

Wonderful! My family loved this! I used mild sausage because I wasn't sure if the group would like the hot sausage and I used 1 28 oz can of diced Italian tomatoes, and did not need to drain them, instead of the 16 oz can of regular diced tomatoes.

[adopt a greyhound]

Great pasta dish. I made half a recipe and was great for the two of us. I had mild sausage so added 1/2 t. pepper flakes. Great flavor and easy to do.