Pasta with Sausage and Tomato-Cream Sauce

I was planning to make spaghetti last night, but decided that I wanted to try something new. I took my basic spaghetti sauce recipe, and just added a couple of extra touches to it. My husband was a bit skeptical at first, but chose to eat it with a smile. One bite and he was hooked, and actually went back for seconds - then thirds. lol... :)

As usual, I just threw things in so the measurements below are a bit of a guess.

Things you'll need:

1 lb pasta
Italian sausage links (sweet, spicy or both)
1 small to med or 1/2 large onion, chopped
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced (More if ya want)
1/2 C red wine**
2 - 14oz cans diced tomatoes
1/2 C cream
2 Tbsp butter -- yes, butter... ;)
Parmesan
1/2 to 1 tsp sugar
1 to 2 tsp Oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

**If you don't like wine, don't buy an entire bottle of it just for this recipe. You could easily substitute it with some beef broth.

First, poke some holes in the top of the sausage and place it in a pan with about 1/2 inch of water.

Bring it to a boil and let it cook up just a little.

If you like the casings darker, then fry them or grill them instead.



Drain any extra water off, slice the sausage and place back in pan.



Fry until nice and brown.



Put the cooked sausage in a bowl and set aside.

Place the onion in the same pan that you cooked the sausage in, using the oil to saute the onion.



Cook until it starts to just soften and caramelize.



Add the garlic and cook about one more minute.

Then add the wine to deglaze the pan.



Let that cook until it's reduced down to at least half, and no longer has that "wine" smell.

Add the sausage, tomatoes, oregano, salt, pepper and sugar.



Start your pasta.

Quick tip, maybe I've mentioned this in past posts, but if you add a little oil (I used olive oil) to your pasta water, it will prevent it from foaming up and boiling over.

Simmer the sauce while the pasta cooks, letting it reduce down and thicken a bit.





When your pasta is done, drain it and place either back in pot or in a large bowl.

Taste the sauce. If it's too acidic add a little more sugar. Add anything else you feel like it needs.

Add the cream and butter to the sauce, and stir until the butter melts. (I didn't have cream, so I used canned milk. Definitely not the same, but it would work in a pinch.)






Mix with the pasta, dish up and top with parmesan.