Sausage and peppers pasta
Everything you love about sausage and peppers, turned into a big tangle of penne in a garlicky tomato sauce.
- 40 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.21 a serving
- 900 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 yellow onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, 28 oz
- 12 oz penne
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, torn (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, for the pasta water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Each serving has about 900 calories, 35 g protein, 90 g carbs and 44 g fat, and costs about $3.21 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No green bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No crushed tomatoes? Diced tomatoes work.
- No penne? Rigatoni or elbow macaroni works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon salt, cover, and bring it .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cut the peppers into ½-inch strips, the onion, and the garlic.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high. Pinch the sausage into bite-size pieces as you drop it in.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heat
Cook 6 to 8 minutes, turning the pieces now and then, until with no pink left, then scoop them onto a plate.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Add the peppers, onion and ½ teaspoon salt to the fat in the pan and cook 7 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and browned at the edges.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Dolly’s tip: Let them sit between stirs. The brown edges are what make them taste sweet.Stir in the garlic and oregano for 30 seconds, then add the crushed tomatoes and sausage. Turn the heat to low and let it bubble gently.
Low heat
Cook the penne in the boiling water 1 minute less than the package says, until .
Al dente. Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”: pasta cooked until tender but with a slight firm bite in the center. It holds up in sauce and keeps softening a little after you drain it.
How you’ll know: Bite a piece a minute before the package time: tender, with a slight firm bite in the middle and no crunch.
High heatTimer: 10 min
Scoop out a mug of , then the penne.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Add the penne and parmesan to the sauce with of pasta water and over low heat for 1 minute, until the sauce clings. Top with basil.
Splash. A splash is a small, quick pour, about a teaspoon to a tablespoon. It’s there to loosen or brighten a dish, so the exact amount doesn’t matter.
How you’ll know: The dish looks a little looser or tastes a little brighter, not soupy.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Low heat
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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