Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lbs 1 lb pasta (penne, rigatoni, or any shell or spiral pasta)
- 1.25 lbs ground Italian sausage (or, 5 Italian sausage links, with casings removed)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, diced (yellow or white)
- 1 bell pepper, diced (red, green, or yellow)
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- ½ tsp ½ tsp black pepper, ground
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ c chicken stock
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ cup grated romano or grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large pot, boil water and cook pasta to al dente according to package instructions. Drain, and set aside.While water is coming to a boil, begin next section.
- Remove casings from 5 links of Italian sausage.In a large pan, add 1 tbsp olive oil, and begin to warm over medium-high heat.Add Italian sausage to the pan, and cook over medium-high heat until there is no more pink showing (approx. 8-10 minutes). Break apart sausage into small pieces as it cooks.After the Italian sausage has finished cooking, remove from heat and drain excess fat from pan. Set aside.
- Remove stem, seeds, and ribs from bell pepper. Dice into ¼ inch pieces.Remove skin and ends from onion. Dice into ¼ inch pieces.Remove skin and ends from 3 cloves of garlic. Mince finely, or use a garlic press to mince.Wash and slice mushrooms. Set aside.
- In a large pan, add 2 tbsp olive oil, and begin to warm over medium heat.
- Add garlic, onion and bell pepper to the pan. Sauté vegetables over medium heat until the vegetables begin to soften (approx 4 min.)
- Add sliced mushrooms, garlic salt, and Italian seasonings to the pan, and continue to sauté vegetables for an additional 5-6 minutes.
- Add butter and flour to the pan. Incorporate into the vegetables for about 1 minute.
- Add chicken stock. Stir.
- Slowly add 2 cups heavy cream. Stir.
- Add grated cheese. Stir.
- Lower the temperature if needed. Continue cooking the sauce over a slow simmer (low-medium heat) for 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
- Add cooked sausage to the pan.
- Add pasta to the pan.
- The sauce will thicken as it cools.
