Pasta with Tomatoes and Sausage

I had never really thought of this as a recipe until I was thinking this week about some new things I could try or talk about in the weeks leading up to Charlotte's birth.  It was then that I realized that just because I kind of throw it together doesn't necessarily mean that y'all wouldn't enjoy my haphazard attempt at cooking!  So, here goes!  This is super easy and is something that is different every time I make it.  It is really good and you can make as much or as little as you want since you're controlling what you put into the sauce and how much pasta to make.  You can also control how spicy or seasoned to make the sauce.  This is something that you need to just experiment with to see how you like it best but I'll give you a general recipe.  

So you start by finding your favorite type of sausage.  Lately we've been using the packs of four sausage links that are "natural".  With this recipe I used the Sweet Italian Sausage but you can use the Sun Dried Tomato sausage or Spicy sausage or whatever you prefer.  Before I found these packs of sausage links I would use the Hillshire Farms sausage.  Just find whatever kind of pre-cooked sausage you prefer and cut it up into slices.  Like I said, it's precooked so you just have to make sure and get it warm enough but you don't have to worry about truly cooking cooking it.  

While you're cutting up the sausage go ahead and put the pasta on to cook.  Again, whatever you favorite type of noodles are will be fine.  This time we used bowties.  And cook it to whatever texture you prefer.

As the pasta starts to boil put the cut up sausage pieces into a skillet with some olive oil and start to cook them.  At that point add at least one 14 1/2 oz can of tomatoes.  You can get the diced tomatoes, crushed, whole....again, this is all about what you want!  If you like your sauce chunkier then get bigger tomato pieces.  Pour the whole can (juice and all) in with the sausage.  Then add about 1 1/2 cans of Tomato Paste.  This is going to make the sauce thicker.  So if you like it thicker add both full cans.  If you like it thinner either add the tomato paste and then add water or just don't add as much tomato paste.  Stir around and bring the sauce to a simmer.

Now this is the fun part.  When I'm buying tomatoes just to make this pasta I buy them with some spices already built in.  Same with the tomato paste.  But sometimes I make this spur of the moment and in those cases the tomatoes and tomato paste don't have anything in them.  Regardless, the sauce is going to need more seasoning.  And that's where your imagination comes in!  Here's what I added tonight: garlic powder, onion powder, basil, oregano, and ground black pepper.  Probably 1/2 teaspoon each of the garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper and 1 teaspoon each of the basil and oregano.  Rosemary is also really good in the sauce as is anything else you want to throw in!  Add some spices, stir it up and then taste the sauce and see what you think.  The sauce is pretty thick so you aren't really going to overseason unless you dump in tablespoons at a time of the seasoning.

Once the pasta gets done you drain it.  Make sure the sauce has had at least a minute or two to simmer with your final spice combination.  And then serve up the sauce over the pasta!  Like I said, VERY simple and something that you can make up your own recipe to the sauce.  It's a pretty straightforward recipe but here are some highlights.

Pasta with Tomatoes and Sausage

Your favorite type of pasta (amount depends on number of servings you want)

Your favorite type of fully cooked sausage (Sweet Italian, Sun Dried Tomato, Hickory Smoked...)

14 1/2 oz can of Diced Tomatoes

2 small cans of Tomato Paste

1/2 t Garlic Powder

1/2 t Onion Powder

1 t Basil

1 t Oregano

1/2 t Ground Black Pepper

Water to bring sauce to your preferred consistency

1. Boil pasta.

2. Cut up sausage into small pieces.  Saute shortly in olive oil.

3. Add tomatoes and tomato paste to sausage and olive oil.  Bring to a simmer.

4. Add spices as desired and water if needed to bring about desired consistency.  Simmer.

5. Serve pasta with sauce on top.