Penne with Sausage and Peppers

I have the Everyday Pasta book by Giada De Laurentiis and first of all must say that everything I have ever cooked from this book is fantastic. One night I had a bunch of leftover chicken jalapeno sausages from fondue night the evening before so I looked up sausage in the index to see what I could find. I did not have Marsala wine so I used white wine instead and it worked out just fine.


Ingredients:
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage (recipe calls for sweet- I used jalapeno)
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and sliced
2 yellow onions, sliced
1 t salt
1 t ground pepper
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 c chopped fresh basil
2 T tomato paste
1 cup Marsala wine (I used sauv blanc)
1 large can diced tomatoes with juice
1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes (I omitted due to the usage of jalapeno sausages)
1 pound rigatoni pasta
fresh Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausages and cook until brown (about 1o minutes depending on size). Remove sausages from pan and place on a towel lined plate.

Add bell peppers, onions, salt and pepper and cook until onions are cooked through, about 5 minutes). Add the garlic, oregano, and basil, cook an additional 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir until incorporated, add wine, tomatoes with juice, and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine, scrape bottom of pan and bring to a simmer.

Cut the sausages into bite sized pieces. Return to sauce pan. Simmer uncovered about 20 minutes.

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain the pasta and add the sauce, toss to combine. Plate and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan cheese.



This was a great dish and kept really well for leftovers the next day. Unless you like really hot food, I would recommend using sweet Italian sausage. It was really spicy!