Great Italian Sausage...now what?

[Anonymous]

So, I bought about 1 pound of delish Italian sausage at a farmer's market (if I sample something, I must buy it!) - what's a very easy way to turn this into a dinner? TIA!

[Anonymous]

My husband uses sausage to make a great spaghetti sauce. It is not the most healthy meat, but it tastes delicious!

[Anonymous]

I like to make a nice chunky pasta sauce and serve over penne or rigatoni.

Saute sausage - I usually break it up so its in chunks, more like ground beef, then in sausage form. Remove and drain.

Saute mushrooms, onions (chopped), peppers, any other veggies.

Add cut up tomatoes, herbs (whatever), cooked sausage and cook until the tomatoes break down and become more saucy - about 30min. I use canned tomatoes, diced or whole, most of the time. I typically start the pasta water heating up after this step and everything gets done about the same time.

5-10 min from end (after pasta starts cooking) I will add spinach or arugula to sauce to cook.

Serve with bread and Parmesan to top.

I have given no measurements here because I don't use them for this. It's more of a throw whatever we have in the house together dish.

[Anonymous]

if you turn it into sauce make sure you remove the casings

[Anonymous]

Broccoli rabe and sausage with penne.

You will need:
sausage
broccoli rabe
2-4 garlic cloves, depending on your taste
red pepper flakes
Olive oil
S and P
1/4 cup Chicken stock (but water or wine would work in a pinch)
Penne

Get your pasta water going.

Brown the sausage whole. Remove from pan. (It won't be fully cooked). Let it cool as you will need to chop it into smaller pieces.

With the pan still on, throw in the broccoli rabe, garlic, red pepper flakes, chicken stock (the amount really varies--I never measure, so the 1/4 cup is a guess), Scrape any brown bits in the pan. Cover the pan for a few minutes to let the broccoli rabe cook. Assuming the sausage isn't fully cooked, put it back in the pan. How long you leave the pan covered depends on how cooked you want your broccoli rabe, or how fresh it is and how cooked your sausage was--shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes.


Drain your pasta and combine with broc rabe and sausage.

In total takes 20 minutes. I like to shave some parmasean cheese over my bowl of pasta.

[Anonymous]

I think the important question is where is that farmer's market?? I love good Italian sausage and have a hell of a time finding it here.

[Anonymous]

Stuffed zucchini or stuffed portobello mushrooms. Remove casings, crumble and brown the sausage. Add breadcrumbs, the chopped-up insides of the zucchini or mushroom stems, chopped garlic and mix together. Add chicken stock to moisten, add some shredded parmesan and a squeeze of lemon juice. Stuff the zucchini or mushrooms, sprinkle with more cheese. Bake at 350 for about 1/2 hour.

[Anonymous]

Pierce the skin several times with a fork and put in a skillet with about a cup of water on med high. Bring up to temp, cover, then turn down to medto med low and cook for about 20 min. Drain, then turn up to med high and brown the sausage. Take out sausage, turn down to med, add a bit of olive oil sliced onions and red peppers. Season with salt and pepper. I like the sweet Italian peppers. Serve on rolls or even the Martins potato long rolls. So easy and tasty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Broccoli rabe and sausage with penne.

You will need:
sausage
broccoli rabe
2-4 garlic cloves, depending on your taste
red pepper flakes
Olive oil
S and P
1/4 cup Chicken stock (but water or wine would work in a pinch)

This, but instead of pasta, I use polenta.

[Anonymous]

Yes - please tell! Where did you buy it?

I actually buy mine whenever I'm in Chicago or New York - grew up Italian in Chicago, what can I say. I think all the sausage here pretty much sucks!

Another good recipe is Sausage and Peppers and Onions. Sautee the sausage, drain the fat if there is a lot. Cook them up with some onions and bell peppers and a little garlic. Fire it all up with some red wine and your good to go.

[Anonymous]

Get a fresh baguette and eat the sausage as is - add red/yellow peppers (sauteed) for flavor.