What's For Dinner?

Creamy Sausage & Bowties

Ingredients:

1 pkg bowtie pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb sweet or hot (your choice) Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup diced onion
1 (28 oz) can Italian-style plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (I've also used half & half)
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain and set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook sausage and pepper flakes until sausage is evenly brown. Stir in onion and garlic, cook until onion is tender. Add tomatoes, half & half, and salt. Simmer until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Stir cooked pasta into sauce, and heat through.

Servings: LOTS
Time to Prepare: under 30 mins

Submitted By: Cristin
Original Source: Everything One-Pot Cookbook

Comments:
Omg, so good--rich and flavorful but surprisingly not as heavy as it sounds like. I've served this to 20 people at a time & was asked for the recipe half a dozen times. This is *great* company food--low maintenance and quick to put together, but very richly flavored and impressive.

Additional Comments:
LauraMMMM - This recipe makes LOTS- The sauce didn't thicken up like I wanted it to- so I threw the leftovers in a casserole dish and added lots of shredded parmand moz and baked it up for leftovers (which are GREAT!)

Nicole - I made a bastardized version of this using 3 c. precooked fajita chicken in place of the sausage, 2 c. fresh salsa in place of the tomatoes, and 1 c. evaporated milk in place of the cream, omitted the red pepper flakes - served over whole grain pasta. Delicious and just as easy as the original! Thanks for the inspiration, Cristin - this is a super flexible recipe!

Ron - Just made it, altered a little bit. I added mushrooms, which was a great idea. I would also suggest using fresh tomatoes. It was really really really good though! For a poor college student, I spent $7 and I have 3 additional meals. Thanks for this great recipe!

Motheroflittle - MMMM..This is good! I made it as written plus a tad of corn starch (thickener)and basil.I sliced the sausage. It could have been from an italian restaurant. My 7 yr old ate a whole plate and she never eats dinner well. Thanks for an easy and delicious dish.